There have been several attacks on Hindu temples in the last few months in the Canadian province of Ontario.
These attacks have also increased communal tension in the country. Now taking action in this connection, Canadian Police has arrested 41 year old Jagdish Pandher.
Pandher lives in Brampton, Greater Toronto Area. Cases are already pending against him on many charges and currently he was out on bail.
Last year also he had targeted some places of worship. Police say that security surveillance had seen a person enter the Hindu temple on October 8.
After this he damages the temple and leaves with a large amount of cash from the donation box kept there. It was seen in the footage that he was going to the temple.
After this, when the investigation progressed, it was revealed that the same person had committed similar incidents in many temples.
He had committed similar acts in many temples in Durham and Greater Toronto. Police say that even though these incidents have happened in temples, they cannot be called hate crimes or incidents carried out due to hatred.
At least six temples have been damaged in Ontario since September.
The Hindu community has been continuously raising this issue. The temples that have been damaged so far include the Devi Temple in Pickering, the Sankat Mochan Temple in Ajax and the Hindu Temple in Oshawa.
Apart from this, incidents of attacks on three temples were also reported in Greater Toronto. Some such incidents took place in 2021 also.
Altogether 18 such cases have been reported. Earlier in March 2022 also, the police had arrested 4 people in cases of attacks on Hindu temples.
Jagdeep Pandher was one of the people arrested by the police in March. Apart from this, Gursharanjit Dhindsa, Parminder Gill and Gurdeep Pandher were also arrested.
These people mostly damaged Hindu temples, but also vandalized and looted Jain temples and Gurudwaras.