Kerala, May 25: On Sunday, members of Antharashtra Hindu Parishad (AHP) and Bajrang Dal demolished the church set of Malayalam film Minnal Murali and claimed responsibility for the vandalism in a social media post. Actor Tovino Thomas expressed his shock at such acts of vandalism on Monday.

Thomas wrote on his Facebook post, "Minnal Murali’s first schedule at Wayanad had been in progress when the set for the second schedule began construction at Kalady. It was carried out by art director Manu Jagad and team, under special instructions by stunt choreographer Vlad Rimburg. For this, we had the proper permissions from the concerned authorities. And as we were about to start shooting in this set – which was built on a considerable cost, the whole country went into lockdown, following which our shoot was paused, just like all others (sic)" ‘Padmaavat’ Movie Controversy: Protesters Vandalise Theatre in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad Ahead of Its Release.

Here's what Tovino Thomas Tweeted: 

The actor further added, “It is during this prevailing uncertainty that this contractual set was destroyed by a group of racialists yesterday. The reasons they cite for this unceremonious act are not understood to our senses till now." He also highlighted that there have been several instances of movie sets being vandalised by religious fanatics in Northern parts of India, and now it’s happening here as well.

The incident came to the light after Hari Palode, the State General Secretary of AHP shared the images of the sets being destroyed and shared his mobile number on his Facebook account. He reportedly claimed that the set was destroyed as it was near a temple in Kaalady. He also claimed that they ‘warned’ against the building of the set there. “We do not have the habit of begging so we demolished it,” he said. He also thanked the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Ernakulam President, VHP, Malayatoor Ratheesh, for demolishing the sets.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 25, 2020 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).