The revered Lingayat seer Shivakumar Swami statue, located at Bengaluru’s Siddaganga Mutt, was defaced during an act of vandalism on November 30. The accused, identified as Srikrishna, a 37-year-old delivery executive, was arrested by the police shortly after the incident.
Srikrishna, originally from Andhra Pradesh, reportedly confessed to the crime during police interrogation. He claimed that he was “inspired” by a vision of Jesus Christ in his dream, which led him to destroy the statue, as per a report on India Today.
The incident occurred around 1:30 am in the Veerabhadra Nagar area of Bengaluru, where Srikrishna allegedly approached the statue and partially defaced it before fleeing the scene.
The #GirinagarPolice have arrested a man for damaging a bust of late #SiddagangaMath seer #ShivakumaraSwamy, who was popularly known as the ‘walking god’. The bust was installed near the bus stop at #VeerabhadraNagar and was damaged in the wee hours on Sunday.
Following the… pic.twitter.com/ZItJ4ns5Jr
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) December 5, 2024
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The desecration was discovered by local residents the following morning, who were quick to alert the authorities.
The act has sparked outrage among the local community, especially within the Lingayat community, who hold Shivakumar Swami in high esteem. The police are continuing their investigation into the motives behind the act while citizens have expressed concern over the growing incidents of religiously charged violence and vandalism.
