Navi Mumbai, (The Hindu): The Kalamboli police has registered a Non-Cognisable (NC) offence against an unidentified miscreant who threw stones at St. Sebastian Church, Sector 8, Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai, and at Jyoti Health Centre at Sector 11, run by the church. The glass casing of grotto of Mother Mary at the church, and the metal frame of grotto of Jesus at the health centre were damaged.

“On Friday evening when the prayers were going on, we heard someone throwing a stone but we did not go to check. At around 7.30 p.m., a girl came in and told us about the damaged glass,” Lalachan Joseph, trustee of the church said. Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., another unidentified miscreant pelted stone on the health centre that caters to around 60 patients. “At 2 p.m. we closed the gates as it was time for the inmates to have a nap. At 4 p.m. when we opened the gates, we found the damaged frame of grotto. The stone had hit the frame and not glass hence there was no sound,” said Mr. Thomas Varghese, committee member of the centre.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Panvel Division, Prakash Nilewad, said, “Someone is specifically targetting the St Sebastian church and the centre run by them. We held a meeting with church personnel from Panvel division area at Kalamboli police station in the presence of DCP Rajendra Mane. Necessary bandobast is being deployed. We have also got permission from court to investigate as it is a NC, and we are looking into it. We are checking the CCTV footage for leads.”