Hyderabad, Oct 11 (IANS): Unidentified miscreants vandalised goddess Durga idol at Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad.

The incident is believed to have occurred late on Thursday night but came to light on Friday morning when the organisers visited the place.

After receiving information, a team of police personnel from Begum Bazar Police Station rushed to the spot.

The incident in the heart of the city triggered tension with organisers lodging their protest. They demanded immediate and stringent action against those involved.

The idol is installed every year by the All India Industrial Exhibition Society and staff as part of the Devi Sharan Navaratri celebrations.

The police were at the venue until the completion of the Dandiya programme on Thursday night.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Abids) A. Chandrasekhar Police said they have registered a case and took up further investigation.

The miscreants are believed to have snapped the electricity connection and damaged CCTV cameras before vandalising the idol. The organisers suspect that the act was "well-planned" by the miscreants.

A guard posted near the idol had gone to the washroom when the miscreants vandalised it. They broke the idol's hand and threw the saree and other material on the ground.

The Exhibition Society organises Dussehra festivities on the Exhibition Grounds every year. The organisers expressed their anger over the desecration of the idol.

This is the second such incident in the city in less than two months. The idol of the goddess in Bhoolaxmi temple was vandalised on August 27.

Unidentified miscreants had vandalised the idol at the temple in the Rakshapuram area under the limits of Santosh Nagar police station. Police had nabbed two drunk persons in this connection.

Local BJP leaders alleged that similar incidents occurred at the temple for the last five years. They said whenever such incidents happen, police blame drunkards or mentally unstable persons.