Bagerhat: A Hindu temple was vandalised and torched by unidentified persons at Kathadura in Bagerhat’s Mollahat on Saturday, reports UNB.

They swooped on the Durga temple in the early hours of Saturday and vandalised all the idols before setting fire to the temple, said temple committee president Harendra Nath Biswas.

Sensing the fire, locals rushed in and doused the blaze.

Mollahat police officer-in-charge ANM Khairul Anam has visited the spot.

Temple committee general secretary Amrita Biswas alleged that one Russell Shikdar and his associates tried to capture the houses of five families near the temple on 7 April producing fake papers. However, they went away after police rushed in.

A case had been filed against six people in this connection, Amrita Biswas said, adding that the accused carried out the arson attack on the temple to spread panic among them.