SURAT, JAN 21: A delegation from an organisation called the Bharat Sadhu Samaj called on Police Commissioner Kuldip Sharma on Thursday evening and demanded the immediate arrest of those who had desecrated the Badrinarayan temple on Wednesday morning by murdering the watchman and setting the temple door on fire.The police, however, said they were clueless about the identity of the murderers or the motive for the incident.The delegation, which was accompanied by office-bearers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, alleged before the police that the incident at the temple deeply revered by Hindus was the work of non-believers and anti-nationals. A Bharat Sadhu Samaj team had visited the temple, they said, and believed that it deserved to be given priority.Expressing concern at the rising number of temple thefts, they claimed that at least 20 temples had been attacked in the city in the past years.Alleging that the miscreants who had desecrated Hindu shrines in Dangs and Bharuch were trying to create disturbances in the city as well, the Samaj said it was the police commissioner's responsibility to ensure Hindu sentiments were not further injured in Surat.Among those who met Sharma were Bharat Sadhu Samaj (South Gujarat) president Swami Ramdevdasji, Manahant Ramvilasdasji, Mahant Thakoredasji, Parmeshwardasji, Bharatam Jyoti and city Bajrang Dal unit president Ashwin Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Dinesh Naadia.The watchman, who went by the name of Ramesh, came to Surat from Bihar in search of a job five months ago. He was found lying in a pool of blood early on Wednesday morning; the back of his neck had been slit.
