Vandalisation of temple, violence in Old Delhi condemnable: Congress

Vandalisation of a temple and violence in Old Delhi area as "condemnable", while underlining that the national capital's law and order is the responsibility of the Modi government. Tensions prevailed Monday in old Delhi's Chawri Bazaar area after a fight over parking a scooter took a communal turn and a temple was vandalised in the locality.

"The incident of vandalisation of Durga temple and violence by anarchic elements in Old Delhi is condemnable and utterly shameful," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted in Hindi. "Delhi's law and order is in the hands of Home Minister Amit Shah and is the responsibility of the BJP government," he said.

The Delhi Police comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Surjewala also appealed to people to not believe in rumours and maintain peace. Security has been beefed up in the Lal Kuan locality to prevent any flare-up. The trouble began late Sunday night when Aas Mohammad (20) was parking his scooter outside a building. Sanjeev Gupta, a resident of the building, who runs an eatery stall there, objected to it, witnesses said.

A video surfaced online which purportedly showed a man allegedly being beaten up by some people, who were suspected to be drunk, over a parking issue. Senior police officials said three separate cases have been registered in connection with the incident. A case has been registered based on Mohammad's statement, the other case is based on the statement by Gupta and the third case was lodged against unknown persons for rioting and damaging public property.

"When Mohammad and Gupta were at the police station, some unknown people gathered outside the temple and vandalised it. This led to tension in the area," Saqib, a 27-year-old software engineer and a local, claimed. The temple is located on the Durga Mandir Street, just across the place where the incident occurred.

-PTI