Police are studying CCTV images from a camera installed just three days ago to identify a miscreant who vandalised a grotto outside the Our Lady of Graces church in Delhi’s Vikaspuri early on Wednesday morning and damaged a statue of Mother Mary.

With 26 days to go for the Delhi elections, this is the fourth such incident in the capital of a Christian religious institution being targeted by miscreants in the last two months.

According to a senior police official, it’s also the first time that an attack of this nature has been caught on camera. Police have registered a case of vandalism and of hurting religious feelings against the suspect, he added.

According to police, the CCTV footage shows a man getting down from his bike outside the church at 4:18:56 am. He is then seen moving towards the religious structure, and breaking a glass panel using his fist before leaving. Within 30 seconds, he returns with another biker, moves towards the structure and damages the statue before leaving with his associate.

Father Balraj, the assistant priest at the church, noticed the broken statue around 6.30 am and alerted the police. “I came down to the porch for the morning mass and spotted the broken structure. I saw that Mother Mary’s statue had been dislodged and was lying on the base of the glass enclosure. The rosary had also been ripped off from one side. I immediately informed the police,” he said.

Delhi Archbishop J T Couto later expressed concern over “growing attacks” on churches. “A clear pattern of orchestrated attacks on churches is emerging as more and more churches are targeted, vandalised and set on fire. This is very disturbing and we request local authorities to take adequate measures to bring to book the miscreants,” he said.

According to police, the CCTV camera that recorded the incident was installed in the area as a part of a massive installation drive in the southwestern range following an acid attack on a 32 year old lady doctor in West Delhi last month.

Officers said that 1,778 CCTV cameras were installed as part of this drive from January 1-8 in West Delhi district, and 1069 in South West Delhi.

“The CCTV footage installed near the church helped us identify the miscreant. It would have been a blind case otherwise, and we would have had to rely solely on eyewitnesses,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest range) Tajender Luthra said.

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