Several pictures and videos of a damaged idol of Goddess Saraswati from the city of Narasaraopet ( Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh), is being widely shared on social media. The social media users claim that the idol of Goddess Saraswati was destroyed recently.
The Facebook read, “సాక్షాత్ శృంగేరి పీఠాధిపతి జగద్గురువు శ్రీ శ్రీ శ్రీ భారాతీ తీర్థులవారి పుట్టి పెరిగిన గ్రామంలో జరిగిన దారుణం *గుంటూరు జిల్లా (నరసరావుపేట)* _*నరసరావుపేట లో దారుణం..*_
★ శృంగేరీ శంకర మఠం సమీపంలో ఉన్న సరస్వతీ విగ్రహంని దారుణంగా ద్వoసం చేసిన గుర్తు తెలియని దుండగులు.
★ విగ్రహంపై మద్యం పోసి బాటిళ్లతో కొట్టిన దుండగులు.
★ ఆలస్యంగా వెలుగులోకి వచ్చిన ఘటన”
(Translation: The atrocity that happened in the village where Sakshat Sringeri Peethadipathi Jagadguruvu Sri Sri Sri Bharati Theerthula was born and raised. Guntur District (Narasaraopet) Atrocity in Narasaraopet..Unknown thugs who have made the Saraswati statue near Sringeri Sankara Math badly. Dundagulu poured alcohol on the statue and hit it with bottles. The event that came to light late.)

The same picture of the damaged idol of Goddess Saraswati was seen here, here, here and here.
We also found a video of the same vandalised idol of Goddess Saraswati with similar claims.

Same videos can be seen here and here.

FACT CHECK

NewsMobile fact-checked the above post and found it to be false and misleading.
With the help of keyword search, we found a tweet from Guntur Rural District Police dated October 6, 2020, claiming that the news of a Saraswati Idol being vandalized in Narasaraopet is fake.
(Twitter post Translation: The news that the idol of Goddess Saraswati being vandalized in Narasaraopet in the morning was completely untrue and deliberately misrepresented, according to the owner of the place. @APPOLICE100 @IPR_AP @OpIndia_com)

‘ ….

ఉదయం నరసరావు పేట లో సరస్వతీ దేవీ విగ్రహము ను ధ్వంసం చేస్తున్నట్లు వచ్చిన న్యూస్ పూర్తిగా సత్యదూరం, కావాలని దుష్ప్రచారం చేస్తున్నారని, ఆ విగ్రహం ధ్వంసం గురించి ఆ స్థల యజమాని యొక్క వివరణ. @APPOLICE100 @IPR_AP @OpIndia_com pic.twitter.com/5EOVytp7qa
— GUNTUR RURAL DISTRICT POLICE (@GntRuralPolice) October 6, 2020

On digging further, we found an article by The Hindu, dated October 7, 2020 (updated October 8, 2020), claiming that Guntur Police have found the man behind the viral post.
According to the article, the inspector stated that the man behind the viral post is from Piduguralla, who admitted that he had forwarded the message that he had received on his mobile phone.

Further, we found another article on Sakshi Post dated October 8, 2020, claiming that the social media post about the Saraswati idol is fake. According to the article, the idol was in a damaged condition for the last two years and got demolished in the course of shifting of the college campus. Also, the owner of the land, Kapilavai Vijaykumar, told media that the idol was damaged when the earlier college management left the venue.
Other news organisations like The Hans India and Daiji World also claims that the social media post about the Saraswati idol are not true.
Moreover, we found a live video of Press Briefing on Facebook dated October 7, 2020, where Guntur SP Vishnu Gunni did a press briefing on the Hindu Temple.

We also found another video of the press briefing on YouTube dated October 7, 2020, claiming that the news about the idol of Goddess Saraswati is false and the idol was not vandalised recently.
YouTube description read, “The news that the #idol of Goddess #Saraswati is being destroyed in #Narasaraopet is completely untrue, #Guntur Rural SP #Vishalgunni explained..”

Hence, with the help of the above information, it has been proved that the idol of Goddess Saraswati in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh was not vandalised recently, but had got demolished during a shifting. Don’t fall for false and misleading claims.

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