Immediately after a complaint was filed on Tuesday at the Kuppam Urban police station over desecration of idols by unknown miscreants at a Subramaniam Swamy temple located on a hill in the Gonuguru village of Chittoor’s Kuppam, the district police immediately sprang into action and dispatched three special teams to investigate the case. During investigation, while following the leads presented by the temple management, temple priest and a few locals, it emerged that Jyothi, a mentally unstable lady who frequently visited the temple, desecrated the idols on 31 March under the influence of toddy.
Speaking about the same, SP Chittoor, Senthil Kumar IPS, said, “This temple is located at a very isolated location and is very rarely visited by followers, unless it is a special occasion. Even the priest visits the temple only once a week. Upon receiving the complaint yesterday, we started our investigation immediately. The temple management, priest and locals voiced their suspicions over a lady who goes by the name Jyothi. Jyothi is mentally unstable and frequently visited the temple at odd hours, according to the locals. Upon following this lead, we traced Jyothi. Subsequently, when we tried asking her if she had anything to do with it, she revealed that on 31 March, after consuming toddy at a local store, she went to the temple, desecrated the idols and subsequently placed them in a ditch 20m away from the temple. She also told the police that she went back to the village the same day and claimed that ‘she has killed Murugan’ in front of multiple villagers who did not take her seriously due to her mental condition. Murugan is how Subrmanian Swamy is referred to, locally. It was only on 6 April when the priest visited the temple that the matter was reported. We thank each one who helped us crack the case in 24 hours.”