Durga idol damaged in Hyderabad, BJP warns miscreants amid row

Some “anti-social elements” vandalised the Durga Puja pandal located in Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad’s Begum Bazar police station limits on Friday. The idol of goddess Durga was damaged. The incident triggered protests in the area on Friday.
BJP leader Madhavi Latha held “anti-social” elements responsible for the damage at the Durga Puja pandal. She said, “The entire incident is uncivilised, uncultured. The way they have behaved, it is very communal by its nature…”
“This happened at exhibition grounds where no common man can just enter without any thought of destroying,” said Madhavi Latha, who the BJP’s Lok Sabha Elections 2024 candidate from Hyderabad.
She said that between 3 am and 5 am on Friday, “anti-social elements and anti-religious elements…barged into the place, broken the hands of the mother goddess and smashed everything that was around.”
Latha “warned” the culprits that “by doing this, they have only established that you are not bl**dy fit to be in this country…by doing this you have proved that by doing this, you don’t deserve to be respected.
The BJP leader informed police have promised “to pull out whoever have done this and if they don’t do it by tomorrow, you will see me on a dharna at the Police Station.”
Meanwhile, people staged protest at Nampally’s main road over the damage to goddess Durga idol as some unidentified persons moved the hundi (donation box) aside at a Durga Puja pandal at Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad’s Begum Bazar police station limits.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Abids) A Chandrasekhar said unknown persons damaged one of the hands of the idol during the early hours. The idol was restored and pujas to the goddess are on.
“We launched the investigation and CCTV footage is being verified,” the official was quoted by PTI as saying. Begum Bazar police are investigating the case.