Mumbai: Man desecrates Shiva idol after failing exam

Mumbai: Two brothers from Panvel have been arrested for uploading a photograph on a social networking website depicting one of them desecrating a Shiva lingam. Police had arrested the duo while they were at a relative’s house in Panvel on Thursday. Both the accused were laying low after the photo they uploaded went viral. According to the police, the accused, Munikumar Tirupati (23) had committed the act because of his fourth consecutive failure in his SSC exams, despite ardently praying to lord Shiva each time.

Police said Tirupati put little effort into studying, and believed that divine intervention would break his unlucky spell. However, when the latest SSC results were announced, Tirupati found out he had failed in his math exam yet again, following which he posted the photo on a popular social networking site with the help of his brother Laxman. The photograph was posted on July 19 from their native place at Golden Bridge in Chennai. Both brothers had gone to the lord Shiva temple and taken the photograph.

Nandkumar Mehetar, senior police inspector of Shahu Nagar police station, said, “The main accused, Munikumar Tirupati had failed four times in maths. We arrested both brothers from Panvel where they were hiding in their relative’s house.” He further said, “Till a few years back, Tirupati was a devotee of lord Shiva, and offered prayers every now and then, more regularly during his exams. After he failed again, he went to his native place at Golden Bridge in Chennai, where his brother Laxman clicked a photo of Munikumar with his right leg on the Shiva lingam.”

The picture attracted a lot of comments, many of them being death threats, warning that he would be killed after being released from police custody. During interrogation, Tirupati told police that his intention was not to hurt Hindu sentiments, and that he never imagined such a strong reaction from the online community.

Police said that Tirupati was an SSC dropout, and was employed as a computer instructor. Complaints have been registered against him all over the country because of his controversial photograph.