UP: Priest breaks Ganesha idol, falsely blames Muslim men, confesses to police

A Ganesha temple in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharth Nagar district was in the news on 15 July when its priest Krich Ram alleged that the Ganesha idol had been vandalised by two local youths, both Muslim.

On 16 July, Krich Ram submitted a compliant at Kathela Samaymata police station alleging that the two young men, Mannan and Sonu, had vandalised the idol in the temple in Taulihawa village.

Today, social media posts have surfaced featuring a video statement by deputy superintendent of police Darvesh Kumar, who is heard saying that the district police are initiating legal action against the priest for breaking the Ganesh idol himself and falsely implicating the two Muslim men.

The priest also alleged that the two men had threatened to stop him from carrying out puja and kirtan activities, and further accused them of assaulting his wife and kicking her to the ground when she tried to intervene.

Kumar, also the circle officer of Shohratgarh PS, under whose jurisdiction the village falls, is heard saying in the video that considering the "gravity" of the complaint, the local police took immediate steps to lodge the FIR on charges of voluntarily causing hurt and defiling a place of worship with the intent to insult the religion of a class.

When a team of local police personnel and the sub-divisional magistrate visited the spot to further investigate the matter, they were told by a group of children that it was the priest (or 'sadhu baba' as they called him) himself who had broken the idol, an act to which the children were eyewitnesses as they were playing nearby.

Believing their testimony, the police closely questioned the priest and soon learned that he was involved in an ongoing dispute with the families of Mannan and Sonu, and had hoped to implicate them in a criminal case. “He has confessed to his crime and we will take legal action against him,” Kumar said, adding that the area remains peaceful.