Desecration of holy crosses Goa: Nine attacks in July, two platoons deployed in sensitive places

Panaji: The Goa police on Friday ruled out the involvement of any mentally challenged person behind the spate of attacks on religious places and symbols in the coastal state. [caption id=“attachment_3766039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Manohar Parrikar. PTI[/caption] “This month, at least nine Holy Crosses and a temple have been desecrated by unidentified persons. It cannot be the work of a mentally deranged person. This is being done purposely,” South Goa Superintendent of Police, Chandan Chowdhary told reporters in Panaji in response to a query. “The investigating officers have already got some leads in these cases and they are working on to crack it,” the official said. Goa has witnessed a series of attacks on holy crosses and Hindu religious symbols since 1 July, prompting chief minister Manohar Parrikar to call for a high-level meeting with police officials this week. Parrikar had asked all police stations across the state to form special investigation teams to nab the culprits at the earliest. He had also asked police to engage all possible technologies including google mapping to track the accused. Chowdhary said the police have also taken the help of cyber cell and anti-terrorist squad to investigate these cases. She said two platoons of India reserve battalion have been deployed in South Goa to patrol sensitive places. In 2013, under Cuncolim police station limits in South Goa, around 90-odd crosses from a cemetery were found desecrated following which a woman was arrested in the case. Police investigations had later revealed that she was mentally unsound.