At least three persons have been arrested for vandalising a church in Purba Medinipur district. While no one was grievously wounded in the incident, a few persons received minor injuries, said Purba Medinipur Superintendent of Police V. Solomon Nesakumar.
The incident took place on Friday evening when a group of men entered the church premises and attacked about 100 worshippers. Christmas celebration was going on in the church at that time. The miscreants, raising slogans “Jai Shri Ram”, beat up many persons and vandalised the church property, locals said. The Pastor’s vehicle was also vandalised.
“Several chairs, tables and windowpanes were broken by the accused who are all locals and appear to be associated with the BJP as per the initial investigation,” said Mr. Neshakumar.
Mr. Neshakumar said that it is “yet to establish” if bombs were hurled by the miscreants. “There is a complaint that they (attackers) threw bombs but it is yet to be established. [Because] there was a celebration going on in the church and some crackers were perhaps burst,” he said.
While three persons have been taken into custody, seven are named in the FIR and about two dozen were involved, the police said.
The BJP, however, denied the allegation. Party’s Kanthi district president Anup Chakravarty blamed the Trinamool Congress for the incident.
