Police have registered cases against Labour Minister Danam Nagender and his followers for abusing a police sub-inspector and obstructing policemen from discharging their functions. Cases were registered.
A complaint was lodged against the minister that he had roughed up policemen at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Banjara Hills. Police have also complained that the minister and his followers had obstructed them from discharging duties.
Land for the temple was leased out to the ISKCON by the State government for 33 years. However, Danam went to the temple and threatened to get the land lease cancelled saying that the behaviour of the ISKCON authorities was improper. He also reportedly locked the gates of the temple.
Speaking to the media, Danam said the ISKCON authorities were misbehaving with women and had them to immediately vacate the place. He said that as a public representative, he had authority to evict them. He also defended his action in roughing up ISKCON authorities and the police stating that it was in public interest. He alleged that ISKCON had commercialized the temple in violation of rules. He alleged that there was no protection to women in the temple.
Denying to have attacked any one, the minister said that the police, who were supposed to protect the people, were acting as agents of the ISKCON officials. He said he could not sit at home watching the situation for fear of his cabinet post. He had a duty to respond to the complaints of the people, he added. Both the temple priests and several devotees remained inside for over three hours as the minister had locked up the gates. The controversy has been continuing since three days.
ISKCON chief Satya Gowra Chandra Das has complained that Danam Nagender had been regularly harassing them for no reason. Stating that the minister was friendly earlier, the chief priest said that he did not understand why the minister had changed. He complained that the minister’s followers had damaged ‘Tulasi Kota’ and a generator in the temple. Stating that it was unfortunate that a minister had chosen to create such a scene when the temple was preparing to celebrate Krishnashtami on Friday, the chief priest said notwithstanding the minister’s action, temple authorities would celebrate Krishnashtami without fail as usual.
–Agencies