Ambedkar's statue vandalised by miscreants in Rajasthan

Three people were on Thursday arrested for allegedly desecrating a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district.

ACHROL: A statue of Dr BR Ambedkar was vandalised by miscreants in Achrol in Rajasthan. The incident took place late on Wednesday night. 

Earlier in the day, three people were arrested for allegedly desecrating a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district. The three accused - Kuldeep Valmiki, Arvind Valmiki and Ankit Gehlot - allegedly vandalised the statue in Holimangra colony in Nathdwara police station area last Monday. They will be produced in a court on Thursday, a police official said.

The police said that all the three accused were arrested on the basis of the CCTV footage from the camera installed near the statue. A resident of the colony had complained in the matter after which the police had filed a case against unidentified people.

The head of the statue, installed by the Nathdwara municipality in Valmiki Basti in the town, was found missing on Tuesday, following which a case was registered under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. Police had rounded up a few suspects for questioning.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Shuklal Pancholi had said that the all three were students and earlier had an altercation with their peers from a particular community. 

The police official claimed that the accused hatched a plan to damage the statue and then put the blame on members of a particular community in the wake of protests by the Dalits against a Supreme Court order on the law pertaining to Scheduled Castes and Tribes. 

However, police said, CCTVs installed in nearby areas recorded their crime and exposed their plan. They spilled the beans during questioning.

Condemning the act of vandalism, Congress state unit Vice President Archana Sharma said: "It seems the confidence of miscreants has reached an all-time high across the country and so there has been a spate of such demolitions."