A set of three images showing a charred idol of the goddess Kali in temple in West Bengal's Murshidabad district is viral on social media with claims giving the incident a communal hue.
BOOM reached out to Murshidabad Police who ruled out any communal angle to the incident and stated that a short circuit led to the fire. The incident happened on August 31, 2020 in Alampur area of Murshidabad, where the goddess Kali idol of Nimtala Kalimandir caught fire.
The images which show the idol before it caught fire and after it was completely gutted by flames, are doing the rounds with netizens falsely claiming that members of the Muslim community have destroyed the temple and idol.
Arjun Singh, a member of Parliament and Bharatiya Janata Party's state vice president, tweeted the set of images and claimed that the temple came under the attack of one religious group. Click here to view the archive of the tweet.
The images are also doing the rounds with claims that 'Jihadi terrorists set the idol on fire.'
No communal angle in the incident: Murshidabad Police
Murshidabad Police in a reply to Singh's tweet shared a letter by the secretary of the Alampur Kali Ma Nimtala Kalimandir - Sukhdev Bajpai.
An excerpt of the letter reads, "The temple's idol caught fire on the night of August 31. The office bearers of the temple are aware of the harmonious relationship that Hindus and Muslims of the area share. They rule out any communal hatred that could lead to such an incident."
Bajpai in the letter further states that the temple's lock was not broken and neither was anything stolen from the temple premises and reiterates that the incident is an accident.
"This could be an accident but a certain section is trying to give it a communal spin. It is our request to you all... do not make the environment tense and do not do anything that can spark tensions," the letter states.
BOOM separately reached out to Sukhdev Bajpai.
"The area is a Muslim majority area. But there are 312 Hindu families here. We have been living peacefully and this was a mere accident that could have occurred because of a short circuit." Bajpai also sent a photograph to BOOM which shows that neither the lock was broken nor was anything missing from the temple.
We also reached out to Mrinal Sinha, senior inspector, Nowda Police station, who corroborated the same. Sinha said, "This is an accidental fire caused by a short circuit and there is no communal overtone to the incident. This is a peaceful area, where people from the two communities have been living in peace."
West Bengal Police has further initiated a legal action against BJP MP Arjun Singh for his tweet.
(Additional reporting: Saket Tiwari)