India, June 27 -- A day after India denounced the destruction of a Durga temple in Dhaka, the Bangladesh government said on Friday that the shrine was demolished, along with many other unauthorised structures built along railway tracks, but only after the idol was removed and immersed in a nearby river.

Against the backdrop of a sharp downturn in bilateral ties since the installation of a caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus last August, the external affairs ministry criticised Bangladeshi authorities on Thursday for the demolition of the Durga temple in the Khilkhet area of Dhaka.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that "extremists were clamouring for demolishing the Durga temple" and t...