06 October,2023 12:38 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
Maharashtra crime: A prayer hall of the Christian community was allegedly vandalised by unidentified miscreants in Maharashtra's Thane city, police said on Friday, reported the PTI.
According to the news agency, the incident occurred at a premises used as a prayer hall by the community in Tulsidham locality of the city, an official said.
Based on a complaint, an offence under section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code was registered on Thursday, the official told the PTI.
The complainant stated that when she reached the prayer hall on Thursday morning, she found mud smeared on the entrance board of the premises and the Cross was also defaced, he said, as per the PTI.
The news agency further reported, some window panes were smashed, and wires of the air conditioner and electric meters were damaged, the official said, adding that a banner with objectionable words was put up on the door of the premises.
The police are probing the matter and no arrests have been made in this connection so far, he said.
Meanwhile, in an another incident in Thane, a Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) staffer was allegedly beaten up by a consumer on Thursday when he went to collect pending power bills of Rs 6,000, a police official from the Thane Police said, the PTI reported.
Senior technician Mahendra Badgujar has been hospitalised with multiple fractures and injuries, the Naupada police station official further added.
"Senior technician Mahendra Badgujar had gone to recover power bills of Rs 6,000 from the suspect, who allegedly assaulted him with an iron rod. The suspect has been charged with assaulting a public servant, criminal intimidation and other relevant offences under the IPC but is yet to be arrested in the matter," he said, according to the PTI.
MSEDCL employees' union general secretary Leeladhar Bansode said that such incidents were increasing in the state and it was putting tremendous pressure of staffers of the state-run power utility, the PTI reported on Thursday.
(with PTI inputs)
