Late Saturday night, a mob of 50 people -- led by BJP MLA Yogesh Patel -- gathered outside the temple and prevented the cinema management from `renovating' it, claiming that they were trying to demolish the temple. Interestingly, the Mahadev temple was constructed by the cinema management.

As tempers ran high, policemen rushed to the spot and ordered the management to stop work to prevent any untoward incident. Even on Sunday, heavy contingent of police personnel were posted outside the cinema as a preventive measure.

Patel today held a meeting with the cinema-owner Subash Mistry and later said that the issue had been resolved. ``They (owners) have agreed that there would be no alterations and the temple would continue to stand at its original place,'' he told Express Newsline. Patel said that the Shivling would be restored in the temple during the Shravan season.

Mistry, on the other hand, who insisted that they were not demolishing the temple, said,``The misunderstanding has been cleared now.'' Though Mistry denied that he was influenced by some religious organisation, police officials said that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad members on Sunday visited the place and announced that they would not allow any alterations in the temple.

Police sources said that Mistry had in fact wanted to shift the temple to a bigger building in the Karelibaug area but cancelled the plan, due to the ``influences''.