Lord Hanuman's statue desecrated in Ballia

Ballia (UP): A statue of Lord Hanuman was desecrated in Uttar Pradesh's Kharuav village, triggering tension in the area, police said today.

The incident comes amid an ongoing spate of incidents targeting statues and busts of known figures across the country.

Station House Officer, Nagra, Ram Dinesh Tiwari, said the statue was damaged yesterday and a poster was also found pasted on it.

The police have lodged a case against unidentified persons on a complaint by Kharuav village chief Dushyant Singh, he said.

The officer said that the matter is being investigated. No arrests have been made, Tiwari, said.

In Kolkata, a bust of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was damaged yesterday following the razing of statues of Soviet icon Vladimir Illyich Lenin in Tripura.

The bust of Dravidian movement founder E V Ramasamy Periyar in Tamil Nadu's Vellore was also desecrated triggering widespread protests across the state.