Punjab: Hindu leaders say holy books were found torn and half burnt, police deny claim

LUDHIANA: A Hindu outfit leaders have claimed that they found Hindu holy books, including Bhagavad Geeta and Garuda Purana torn and half burnt under a tree outside mini secretariat in Ludhiana on Tuesday afternoon.After receiving the information, the additional deputy commissioner of police-III Ashwini Gotyal and assistant commissioner of police civil lines Harish Behal reached the spot.Amit Arora, national vice president of Shiv Sena Punjab, said that he, along with some other leaders had gone to the office of the commissioner of police, located in the mini secretariat building. He said that when they came out, they noticed the Hindu holy books and some photos of the god and goddess were scattered under a tree. “The Bhagavad Geeta and Garuda Purana were torn and half burnt. We did a Facebook live video while collecting the torn holy books. Thereafter, we called the police,” he said.Rajiv Tandon, chairman of Shiv Sena Punjab, who was accompanying Arora, said that they suspect that someone had thrown the holy books with intention to hurt religious sentiments of Hindus.He alleged that the Punjab government has failed to act against those accused of hurting religious sentiments of Hindus as the matter of killing of bovines and dumping their remains in Jeevan Nagar is still unsolved.The ADCP-III Ashwini Goytal said that the holy books were neither torn nor burnt. The preliminary probe suggests that someone kept the holy books and photos under the ‘Peepal’ tree that is considered holy, as these were quite old, which is usually done by the people in Hindu culture. However, the angle of sacrilege is also being probed. The police are scanning the CCTVs installed near the spot. On the other hand, Amit Arora has filed a written complaint against it with the division number 5 police.