A case was registered under sections 61(2), 196, 299, and 329(4) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Jalumuru Police Station.
Visakhapatnam: Srikakulam district police arrested three individuals for trying to incite religious animosity in Jalumuru on Monday. Police said the accused wrote pro-Christian slogans on the walls of three temples in a bid to defame a local pastor.
The arrests were made following an investigation involving nine special police teams. The slogans appeared between the evening of March 29 and the morning of March 30.
DSP K.V. Maheswara Reddy said the accused Pogotti Eswararao, M. Ajay and Chandaka Demudu Naidu wrote in Telugu with black ink the phrases: "He who does not believe in Jesus is a sinner" and "Jesus is waiting for your arrival" on the compound walls of Sri Yandala Kameswari Swamy temple in Yelamanchili village, Asiri Thalli temple in Kaminaidupeta village and Anjeneya Swamy temples in Kondapolavalasa village.
The police investigation revealed the culprits wanted to frame Chokkapu Shankara Rao, a pastor who had been conducting services in Yelamanchili for the past two years. Pastor John Peter of nearby Budithi Church feared losing donations and congregants if a new church was constructed in Yelamanchili on recently acquired land.
A case was registered under sections 61(2), 196, 299, and 329(4) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Jalumuru Police Station.
