Mumbai church attack: Police send CCTV footage to forensic lab

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Police have sent the CCTV footage of an attack on a church in Panvel to the Kalina Forensic laboratory on Monday to get enhanced images of the attackers.

Three motorcycle-borne men hurled stones at the church which shattered the glass case of the statue of St George in New Panvel in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.

Police said that the street lights were poor in the area in which the attackers sped away on their motorcycles. “Had there been enough street light poles, we could have got the clear images. Since the images of the attackers are not clear, we have sent it to the forensic laboratory and expecting a report on it in 5-6 days,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Sanjay Yenpure.

Navi Mumbai Police commissioner KL Prasad, former vice chairperson of Maharashtra minorities commission and the president of Indian Christian Voice Abraham Mathai, and other political and religious leaders visited the church on Monday.

Mathai claimed that the police have accepted the fact that the church was attacked by ‘communal elements’. “Police today has accepted the fact that the church was attacked by communal elements to disturb the communal harmony. It is very clear that the robbery was not their intention as they did not take money or other things from the church. Also, if the drunk men had attacked the church, they would not have used the masks on their faces and would not have broken the statue. So, it is clear that the attack was well-planned by the communal elements,” Mathai said.

Prasad, however, refused to comment on the involvement of communal elements. “The investigation will go on based on the clues available. We are examining the CCTV footage and are going to develop the case. We haven’t yet detected the case. So, I can’t say whether communal elements are behind the attack. After detecting the case, we will announce whether the communal elements are behind the attack or other people,” Prasad told Firstpost.

Father Shaji, of the St George church, who has been living in Mumbai for the last 17 years, said that he has never experienced such an attack in the past. “Our thinking is that people having affiliations to right wing groups might be behind the attack. But, this is our suspicion and don’t have any evidence. The police investigation is on and we hope that the attackers will be nabbed soon,” he said and expressed the satisfaction on the probe so far.

Anil Josesph, the former vice president of Bombay Catholic Sabha said that the attackers behind such incidents should be named and shamed in public. “Nine months before we were talking about the development and now it’s all about the communalism. It’s saddening to see the attacks on the minority community in the recent few months. Like the Nirbhaya case, the perpetrators should be named and shamed. The people should know who are these accused and their affiliation with groups,” he said.

Meanwhile, catholic organisations have called for a closure of catholic schools in the city on Wednesday to protest against the attack on the church.