Ballari: The prime Shivalinga idol among the 'Koti Linga' idols erected on a rock boulder in Chakratheertha, a sacred place of the Shaiva sect during the Vijayanagar empire period, located near river Tungabhadra in the world heritage site, Hampi, was on Wednesday found disfigured.
Miscreants also made unsuccessful attempts to disfigure another Shivalinga in the same premises. The Chakratheertha premises are under the watchful eye of the state archeological department and security personnel have been deployed to guard the ancient monuments which attract a huge number of tourists.
According to local tourist guides, Home Guards who were deployed to maintain a watch on the monuments were assigned to other places during the just concluded Ramzan festival and during this period, the miscreants might have disfigured the idols.
On the same river side, during 2009-10, unidentified miscreants had disfigured the idol of goddess Lakshmi Devi. Again in 2012-13, the Gali Gopura, a tower was demolished near the Raghunatha Malyavantha temple in the area.
Local residents urged the authorities to strengthen security cover and deploy armed security personnel in Hampi.
