Devotees and followers of Sri Dharmashtala Kshetra taking out a protest march in Yadgir on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Several hundreds of devotees and followers of the holy place Dharmasthala took to the streets in Yadgir on Wednesday against what they called attempts to defame the holy temple and its Dharmadhikari Sri Veerendra Heggade and his family members by uploading certain videos on social media platforms.The protesters, who took out a protest march from Subhas Chandra Chowk to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, shouted slogans continuously against such attempts being made by Girish Mattennavar, Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Sameer M.D., Santosh Shetty, Jayanth, Ajay Achan and others and said that these people have been trying to defame the temple and its Dharmadhikari and his family by uploading videos containing false information and fake news in the name of seeking justice for Soujanya.While welcoming the investigation conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the State government following the allegation made by an “unknown person”, they urged the formation of another SIT to conduct an inquiry about the intention of such people to spread falsehoods against the temple. The inquiry should cover those instigating such attempts and also, the funds they are receiving for their continuous attempts to defame the holy place.“As devotees of Dharmasthala, which has 800 years of history and lakhs of devotees across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other States coming to seek blessings every year, we condemn such attempts to harm the sentiments of the devotees and urge the State government to take action to protect the dignity and holiness of the temple and ensure proper investigation against those who are attempting to defame the holy place,” the protesters said.Later, they submitted a memorandum to the authorities. Published - August 13, 2025 07:37 pm IST
