A 22-year-old temple in Petaling Jaya was allegedly torched with Molotov cocktails by a developer with the assistance of the police and municipal council.

It was also alleged that the caretaker of the Sri Kalkattha Kaliaman temple in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara was assaulted while statues and gold ornaments went missing during the operation.

Yesterday, some 30 disgruntled devotees and committee members of the temple submitted a memorandum to the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters calling for an investigation.

"On 29 Aug 2005, the developer conspired with the police and MPPJ and used its Indonesian workers to burn-down the temple using Molotov cocktails.

"They also beat-up the temple caretakers," claimed the three-page memorandum.

The group was led by S Manikavasagam, president of the recently-formed rights group Hindu Consultative Council (HCC).

The temple was said to be the only one in an area covering numerous townships and frequented by more than 3,000 devotees from Damansara Utama, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Damansara Kim, Damansara Jaya, Bandar Utama and Sea Park.

Second demolishment

Contacted today, Manikavasagam said the structure, which was set ablaze two days before Merdeka Day, was a temporary reconstruction of the temple's original building which was demolished a few days before.

"The original temple was demolished by the same parties on Aug 19. The temple committee subsequently re-built a temporary shelter for devotees, in the same area, but that too has now been demolished," he added.

He accused Petaling Jaya district police chief Mohd Hazan Abdul Hanif and MPPJ of not protecting the temple and its followers despite having lodged reports prior to the incident.

"The authorities just stood there and watched while the temple was being destroyed and while the temple caretaker was being beaten up badly," claimed Manikavasagam, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth vice-chair.

Newspaper reports which followed the incident quoted temple committee chairperson, V Chandran, as saying that the Aug 19 incident occurred at 7.45am when bulldozers and 60 workers showed up at the site.

Agreement breached

He said the developer had breached an agreement with the temple committee made two years ago that the site will not be disturbed.

The area is being developed to accommodate highways, apartments and office blocks.

Chandran lodged a police report on the same day of the first incident but Manikavasagam said the district police failed to investigate the matter.

"We now want the federal police to investigate the matter and inform the HCC of its findings within seven days.

"They must also offer protection to the temple committee as members have been threatened at gun-point by the developer's guards," he added.

Comments from the developer, MPPJ and the Petaling Jaya OCPD could not be obtained.