Mangaluru church attack case: Police arrest vandal

The Mangaluru police on Tuesday arrested a man on the charges of breaking the glass enclosure of a statue of Mother Mary at St Joseph Vaz Church in Paneer at Deralakatte near here on February 24.

Anand (30), a resident of Ukkuda at Kinya village in Mangaluru taluk and a former employee of the church, confessed to damaging the glass enclosure as he was unhappy with the low wages the church authorities paid him, Police Commissioner S Murugan told mediapersons.

He said the Ullal police had booked Anand under Section 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and Section 437 (Mischief with intent to destroy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Special police team
He said a special police team had been formed to arrest the culprit. Murugan said there were
already 20 CCTV cameras in the Mangaluru police commissionerate area and that Rs two crore had been earmarked for installing CCTVs in about 300 to 400 places. The tender process has been completed and the installation work will begin soon, he said.