Karnataka church fire raises fear of fresh attack
Source: Indiatimes.com

Bangalore, Oct 14: Was it an accident or yet another attack by miscreants? With no answers in sight, the Karnataka police and church authorities are at loggerheads over what sparked the fire which gutted a room and partially damaged the main prayer hall of St Antony's Church at Yedavanahalli near Attibele in Bangalore Rural district in the wee hours of Monday.

The village is about 34 km from Bangalore. While church authorities claimed miscreants had lit the fire, police maintained it was an accident.

The police's first theory that a short circuit was the cause was swiftly disproved by Bescom (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) engineers who visited the spot.

Two constables posted outside the church first noticed the fire around 1am and tried to stamp it out. One of the church doors was kept open so that the constables could take shelter if it rained. When they couldn't control the flames, they alerted neighbors who tried their best to put out the fire.

Soon, they realized that a fire was still blazing in a locked room, where most of the things were stored. That included the cassocks, about 300 sarees gifted by devotees, CDs and copies of the Bible. The people smashed the window panes and threw water inside. But, the fire raged on and fire tenders were summoned. By 2.15am, they arrived and extinguished the fire.

Fr Santhosh Almeida of the church lodged a complaint with the police and requested the police to investigate the matter. This church is administered by the church at Adigondanahalli, whose priest is Fr C Francis.

"I received a call around 2.30am that there was a fire in our church. Later, the police called me and said they were on the spot. I visited the place this morning," he said. Fr Francis had doubts about the short circuit theory. He did not rule out the possibility of an attack.

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