The Haryana police on Tuesday, 28 December, arrested two persons accused of vandalising a statue of Jesus Christ at Holy Redeemer Church in Ambala on Christmas day. The arrested were identified as Ravinder Singh (27) and Sandeep Kumar (28) – both residents of the city.
Singh, who has studied till Class 12, has worked for several private pharmaceutical firms, and Kumar is an engineer, who has previously worked with private firms, but currently works at the public works department as a regular employee, the police told the media.
They were under the influence of alcohol when they vandalised the church, reported HT, citing Superintendent of Police (SP) Jashandeep Singh Randhawa at a press conference. The police said that a case was registered on Saturday, 25 December.
Analysis of CCTV footage from the area reportedly led them to the accused.
Three police teams, under a Special Investigative Team headed by ASP Pooja Dabla, were working on the case, and the accused were arrested by a Crime Investigative Agency team.
'Not a Hate Crime': Police
The SP denied any angle of hate, but said the police were probing all angles.
He reportedly said that as per preliminary probe, this was not an incident of hate crime. "However, the police will investigate possible links with any socio-political organisation or ideological biases," he said.
The accused are facing charges of defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion, house-trespass, among others, and will be produced before a court on 29 December.
The police added that both the accused were first-time offenders.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)