Kakinada: Ministers visit Antarvedi amid protests by vhp, rss activists

Kakinada: Tense situation prevailed at Antarvedi in Sakhinetipalli mandal in East Godavari district on Tuesday when three ministers, including endowments minister Vellampalli Srinivas, visited the site of gutted chariot of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple.

Hundreds of devotees and members of religious groups like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and Bajarangadal gathered at the temple, raising slogans against the alleged act of arson when the ministers arrived at the spot. They demanded stern action against the culprits.

Endowments minister Srinivas after visiting the remains of the chariot, said the state government viewed the fire mishap very seriously and would take stern action against those responsible for heinous crime . He visited the site along with social welfare minister Pinipe Viswaroop and BC welfare minister Chelluboina Venu Gopala Krishna and others to find out the causes for the fire mishap.

Srinivas said temple EO N Chakradhar Rao had been transferred as a first step towards conducting probe and finding out culprits. Similarly, some persons in the department have been suspended. He said that the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy directed DGP D Gautam Sawang to make an in-depth probe into the incident.

Minister Gopalakrishna said those responsible for the burning chariot would be taken to task and serious action would be initiated against them. He further said that soon after the celestial wedding of Lord Narasimha Swamy is performed, the divine chariot is drawn and taken the procession to provide a glimpse of the newly-wed couple , but this heinous act by the hooligans hurt the sentiments of the Hindu devotees.

Meanwhile, DGP D Gautam Sawang issued directions to the police department to collect the full details regarding the incident.

Eluru range DIG K V Mohan Rao is camping in Antarvedi to probe the incident. Forensics officials collected some clues about the incident.