Danam, cronies charge at cops on Iskcon land issue

[1]

Labour minister Danam Nagender and his supporters were booked for breaching peace and assaulting police personnel on Thursday after they locked the gate of an Iskcon temple at Banjara Hills Road No. 12.

According to sources, Mr Nagender had gone to the temple on Thursday morning as locals had complained that members of the Hare Krishna Movement were trying to occupy their lands under the guise of temple construction. As the temple management refused to heed the minister’s warnings, he locked the gate with the devotees and priests inside. When the police tried to settle the issue, the minister allegedly threatened them and asked them to leave the premises.

“The minister had pushed sub-inspector B. Ramesh and threatened him that he would beat him up if the police tried to stop him,” said inspector Chandrasekhar Goud. A case was booked against the minister and his followers under Indian Penal Code Sections 353 (Assault or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) 143 (Unlawful assembly) 427 (Causing damage) 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 342 (Wrongful confinement read with 34).

Went to Iskcon on behalf of my people: Danam
Speaking to this newspaper, labour minister Danam Nagender pointed out that he had gone to the Iskcon temple on behalf of locals as there had been tension over Krishnastami celebrations on the premises on Tuesday as well. He added that he had not threatened anyone.

On Tuesday afternoon, a mob of around 40 people, mainly locals, had allegedly ransacked the same temple and the Banjara Hills police had booked cases against the mob the same day. “When I visited the temple this morning, I saw that the police was not allowing devotees to enter the temple following Tuesday’s incident. Being a public representative, I stood up for my people and requested that the matter be settled amicably. However, the SI who was on duty acted irresponsibly and refused to answer me,” said the minister.

The organisers of the Hare Krishna movement said that the endowments department had given the four-acre land adjacent to the Narasimhaswamy temple to Iskcon in 2009 and that they were developing the temple and building a kalyan mandap on the premises. However, locals have been opposing the developments for the last year as they were told that they would be evicted from the land. “Why should they (the Hare Krishna movement) set up structures on the land while locals who have been worshipping there are opposing it?” the minister said.