On Wednesday 14th October, a new Hindu temple is expected to be built in a former police station in Leicester.
According to Leicester Mercury, the office of a police station in Melton Road which had been closed over five years ago is now planned to be converted into a “first of its kind” Hanuman Mandir.
The Mandir will be named as Shree Kashtabhanjan Dev Hanumanji temple with Trustees emphasising that the Mandir "will be open to the whole community regardless of sect." Originating from the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism, the group are devotees of the Salangpur Hanumanji temple in South Gujarat, India. The new, Leicester-based temple will be a branch of the original temple in India.
In 2003, the main saints of the India-based temple visited Leicester and the temple charity is currently awaiting updates on the lockdown restrictions ahead of Diwali with the hopes of opening to the public.
Currently, the temple within the former office site is home to a temporary shrine while a stonework statue of Hanuman is being made in Rajasthan, India. The temple charity hopes to install the finished statue as part of an upcoming revamp of the current building in the forthcoming years.
