Police stall locals' bid to install stone idol; four held

Lucknow, Aug 11 (UNI) Police in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh has stalled efforts by locals to install a stone idol dug out from a field two days ago.

Labourers were digging the field of one Zahoor of Terua Nankari village to fill up the flooring of an anti-earthquake room being built in a local school when they found a stone idol.

The villagers decided to install the idol near the house of village pradhan Dinesh Kumar yesterday. When the police came to know about the idol, it asked villagers to hand it over to the authorities ''as under a government order, any such idol should be first given to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) for verification about its antic value,'' said SP (Barabanki) Sachi Ghildiyal.

''But the villagers once again tried to install the idol when we intervened and deposited it in the district treasury,'' she added.

To protest the police move, villagers blocked the road and indulged in agitation. ''Police used mild force to detain some of the vilagers,'' the official said.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Singh, whom police claimed was the brain behind the agitation, is absconding.

Ubaid, the gram pradhan of a neighbouring village, claimed that the idol was damaged when police tried to take it away.

UNI