In a shocking incident in the early hours of Wednesday, a church in west Delhi's Vikaspuri area was vandalised, the police have said.
"Two people came on a scooter around 4.20 am. One of them entered the church's premises and smashed a glass window. He also threw the statue of Mother Mary on the floor," Assistant Father Balraj of Our Lady of Graces Church told IANS.
The police, who claim to have received a call from the church at 7.30 am in the morning, said that they were collecting footage from CCTV cameras installed inside and outside the church in order to identify the attackers, reports NDTV.
"A clear pattern of orchestrated attacks on churches is emerging as more churches are vandalised & set on fire," Delhi's Archbishop Anil JT Couto said on Wednesday.
The latest case of vandalism was the third attack on churches in Delhi in about a month.
Just this month, a fire was reported from a church in Rohini in outer Delhi. The Christmas crib placed outside the church building was completely burnt.
Father Cyril Patrick, the head priest, called the police after spotting the fire. "I don't want to blame anyone or any particular group but I think this [sic] deliberately done by someone," he had told NDTV.
The police registered an FIR and took the CCTV footage for further investigation.
Last month, St Sebastian's Church, located in East Delhi's Dilshad Garden area, was burnt down in a fire that the police said was a case of arson.
Traces of kerosene were found was inside the church premises by the forensic team.
At that time, Archbishop Couto had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to urgently order a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The matter was also raised in Parliament after protests by Christian groups. Singh had also announced the setting up of an SIT to investigate and catch those behind the fire.
