Srirangam Police have registered a case against Rengarajan Narasimhan – a petitioner in the case relating to alleged theft of idols from the Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple- for having allegedly posted photo of the temple’s processional deity Sri Namperumal without holy clothes and ‘kavachams’ in the social media recently.
The case was booked on Wednesday based on a complaint preferred by the temple’s Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer P. Jayaraman. Mr. Jayaraman had lodged a complaint addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi and the Srirangam Police. A complaint was earlier given to the Joint Commissioner signed by ‘Archakas’, ‘Arayars’ and ‘Parisaaragal’ earlier.
In the police complaint, Mr. Jayaraman had stated that Rengarajan Narasimhan had posted the photos of the processional deity without holy clothes and ‘kavachams’ in the social media for “self publicity” and with the intention to tarnish the reputation of the temple. The act of Rengarajan Narasimhan was against the temple’s ‘sampradhayam’, Mr. Jayaraman said.
Mr. Jayaraman in the complaint further stated the ‘kavachams’ of the processional deity would be removed using seven screens as a cover. Barring the priests none could see the idol at that time and this was an age-old practice that was being followed.
He further said that the photo could have been taken by someone stealthily during ‘Swarna Bandhanam’ (patch work made on the idol with gold) to remove some minor defects and the photo had been posted by Rengarajan Narasimhan in the social media.
The idol without holy clothes and ‘kavachams’ could not be seen by anyone barring the priests, he said adding that ‘kavchams’ would be removed once a year during the ‘Jestabhishekam’ of Sri Namperumal and ‘Ekaantha Thirumanjanam’ performed for the deity.
Mr. Jayaraman said the posting of photos in the social media by Rengarajan Narasimhan had shocked the priests and devotees who had expressed their feelings of regret and anxiety. He sought appropriate action against Rengarajan Narasimhan for spreading defamatory news to create confusion in the mind of the devotees and public and sought appropriate action.
Police sources said the case was booked under IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and section 67 of the IT Act.The accused was yet to be arrested, said the sources.
A few days ago, Mr. Rengarajan Narasimhan had alleged that he was assaulted by a group of persons inside the temple based on which the Srirangam Police had registered a case and arrested three persons, including a retired Village Administrative Officer.