Mumbai: A police case has been registered in connection with an attack on St George's Catholic Church near Mumbai in New Panvel area. The attack took place in early on Saturday.
"Last night around 1:30 am, three people came on a bike. They were wearing masks, they threw stones at the statue of St George which was kept in a glass casing. The police have registered a case," said Abraham Mathai, Former Minorities Commission Chairman.
A First Information Report or FIR has been registered against unknown people in Khandeshwar in New Panvel.
In the incident, the covering glass outside the statue of Saint George got damaged.
The attackers were covering their faces, a police official said, adding the the incident has been captured on a CCTV camera and the footage is being analysed by the police.
The church was built in 2007 and can accommodate over 800 people for prayer.
Meanwhile, additional reinforcements were called in and security around the area has been tightened, the official said.
Bishop Agnello Gracias of the Bombay Archdiocese claimed that the attack form spart of a pattern from across the country. "This incident should not be viewed in isolation. There have been attacks on churches across the country over the last few months - in Hisar, Jabalpur, Delhi and now Mumbai. It is the pattern that is worrying. Where is it going to stop? We want to give the police time to investigate but we want to know what the motive behind the attack was", he said.
Police sources said that while an investigation is underway, the CCTV footage is pixelated and it would be a challenge to identify the assailants or trace the bike based on the footage. They have however, increased security and patrolling around churches and other places of worship in light of Saturday's incident.
"This is the first time such an incident has happened here. It is a peaceful place and everyone lives together in harmony. There have been no communal incidents. We are conducting combing operations in nearby areas and have stepped up security but primarily we think it is mischief," ACP Sheshrao Suryavanshi, of the New Panvel Police Station, told NDTV.