Crosses, Plaques Vandalised At A Cemetery In Goa

Panaji: Over 100 crosses and plaques at a Christian cemetery in Curchorem town of South Goa were allegedly vandalised by unknown persons, police said today. According to Curchorem Police Inspector Shivram Vaingankar, the incident took place last night. Last week, at least nine holy crosses and a temple were allegedly desecrated by unidentified persons.

"Several gravestones were damaged by miscreants last night at the Guardian Angel Cemetery. The CCTV camera which was installed at the gate of the cemetery was also found broken," he told PTI.

Police are yet to arrest anyone in connection with the cemetery attack. Mr Vaingankar said a local had seen a man running out of cemetery around 4.30 am.

"We are working on various leads," he said.

As Goa has been witnessing attacks on religious symbols since the beginning of this month, police presence was beefed up in several areas of South Goa district.

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Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had given strict instructions to the police to increase patrolling around sensitive places in the state. Two platoons of India Reserve Battalion were also deployed in South Goa to help local police in patrolling sensitive areas. Local police stations were also asked to form Special Investigation Teams (SITs). So far, the police have failed to make any breakthrough in the nine desecration incidents, all from South Goa.