Gandhi statue near Lathi town in Gujarat was not vandalized but was broken in accident: SP Amreli

Amreli: The statue of Mahatma Gandhi, found broken near a pond close to Lathi town of Amreli district in Gujarat was not vandalized, SP Nirlipt Rai today said.

He said that the investigation of the incident by FSL expert has revealed that the statue infact was broken due to the impact of a tanker which has also been identifed. Later the broken statue was kept there as part of a ‘stunt’ to create a scene as if it has been vandalized.

The SP said that some audio clips have also been found in which a man identified as one Kanakbhai the local PA of businessman Savji Dholakiya can be heard issuing instruction to someone to create the stunt.

The statue had been broken in the past. Yesterday the scene of crime was recreated, broken pieces were placed and then media was called. We are further investigating this matter.

I request all to verify the facts first. Prima facie, the cause of this incident is accident. pic.twitter.com/w6YBUNncUZ

— SP AMRELI (@SP_Amreli) January 5, 2020

The detailed investigation was on, he said adding that so far no arrest or detention has been made in this connection.

Notably, the statue set up as part of the beautification project of the lake situated near the Akala road at a distance of around 3 km from Lathi town was found broken on Sunday morning. Some people gathered there and informed police also about that. In the audios found by police, it could be heard that a scene should be created so that it looked like the statue was vandalized. Some names in the audio clips have come to fore and police was investigating the matter.

The statue was set up as part of beautification project of the lake as a joint effort by the local administration and an NGO of Savji Dholakiya known as Dholakiya foundation.

DeshGujarat