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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday night instructed West Godavari superintendent of police to conduct a thorough probe into the causes of an explosion that brought down the 130-year-old temple Sri Venugopalachary temple at Vattluru village on Saturday night.
Temple priest Vedantam Narasimhacharyulu and his wife Seetamma, who were sleeping next to the temple, had a miraculous escape. Police ruled out sabotage and said the old structure -- made of limestone -- collapsed, as it could not bear the weight of the recently constructed gopuram.
They said the explosion may have been due to pressure developed as a result of fumes from the laksha kumkuma archana being performed in the unventilated temple for the last three days.
The main entrance and the sanctum sanctorum of the temple completely collapsed, resulting in damage to the idols of Venugopalaswamy, Radha and Rukmini.
Police sealed the area and conducted a thorough search with bomb squads and dog squads, but found no explosive substance in the temple premises.
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