Shivaji statue collapse: Seven teams at work to trace sculptor Jaydeep Apte
Mumbai (PTI): Police in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district have pressed more than seven teams to track down sculptor and contractor Jaydeep Apte, booked over the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue at Rajkot fort, an official said on Wednesday.
Police have been searching for 24-year-old Apte since the day of the collapse on August 26, but he has remained untraceable, the official said.
The Sindhudurg police have also issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Apte to prevent him from leaving the country through sea ports, airports and all other exit points, he said.
Teams of Sindhudurg police are searching for him at places, including Mumbai, Thane, Sindhudurg and Kolhapur. Some of the teams are using technical help to apprehend the accused, the official said.
A police team had visited Apte’s residence at Dudhnaka in Kalyan of Thane district, but it was locked, he said.
Apte had executed the contract to make the 35-foot statue of the Maratha warrior king that was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the fort in Malvan tehsil on Navy Day, December 4, last year.
After the statue collapsed, the Malvan police registered a case against Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil for negligence and other offences. Patil was arrested from Kolhapur last week.
The collapse of the statue of the iconic founder of the Maratha state has triggered a huge political row ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
