The Indian Consulate in San Francisco condemned the defacement of the Swaminarayan Mandir in Newark, California, with anti-India graffiti on Saturday, stating that the incident has damaged the community’s feelings.
A tweet on the official X handle of the Indian Consulate General in San Francisco said, “We strongly condemn the defacing of SMVS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at Newark, California with anti-India graffiti.” The message called for a prompt investigation and action into the situation by the US authorities. The Indian community feels upset by this act. We have pushed the US authorities to look into this problem quickly and take swift action against the offenders.”
The Swaminarayan temple in Newark, California was allegedly vandalised by suspected pro-Khalistan extremists, according to police reports. Friday (local time) saw the revelation of the incident. Vandals wrote disparaging remarks about India on the Hindu temple’s outer wall. A vandalism inquiry has been launched by the Newark Police Service. The event happened on Thursday night, according to the temple’s management.
“A black ink discovery of anti-Hindu and anti-Indian graffiti on a building’s exterior wall was made by a devotee who lives near the shrine. The local administration was notified right away,” the temple administration’s spokesperson, Bhargav Raval, told ANI.
The representative continued by saying that the anti-Indian graffiti on the temple’s wall “shocked” the administration. Newark police captain Jonathan Arguello provided additional details about the incident by stating that the “targeted act” was under investigation. This is not the first instance in recent memory that such graffiti has been used to deface a temple.
The event nearly coincides with the US Justice Department’s recent release of an indictment against an Indian person for his alleged role in an abortive attempt to kill India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US territory.
Prosecutors said that the Justice Department had evidence that an Indian government employee (CC-1), whose identity was withheld from the indictment filed in a Manhattan federal court, had enlisted the help of another Indian, Nikhil Gupta, to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination.
However, US authorities were able to stop the hitman’s plan. Gupta is presently being held on a charge of murder-for-hire, which carries a potential 10-year prison sentence. In accordance with the terms of the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic, Gupta was seized and detained by Czech police on June 30. The Ministry of External Affairs responded to the Justice Department’s indictment by stating that the case brought in a US court against a person, which purportedly connected him to an Indian official, was a “matter of concern” and went against government policy.
