After the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Rajkot Fort of Maharashtra, the political temperature in the state is on the rise. Meanwhile, sculptor Jaideep Apte, who created this 35 feet high statue, was arrested by Kalyan police on Wednesday. He was absconding since the statue collapsed on August 26. According to sources, Apte has currently been kept in the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). Let us tell you that this statue was installed in Rajkot Fort located in Sindhudurg district. The breaking of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue has become a political issue before the assembly elections.
Mahavikas Aghadi parties Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress are continuously attacking the Mahayuti government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar have apologized to the people of Maharashtra on this issue. Police have already arrested structural consultant Chetan Patil in this case. Jaideep Apte runs an art company in Kalyan. He had no prior experience in building large sculptures. He was the one who built the 35 feet high statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Rajkot Fort, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December last year.
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Let us tell you that the people of Maharashtra consider Chhatrapati Shivaji as their idol and worship him. The incident of vandalism of his statue before the Maharashtra Assembly elections has given an opportunity to the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi to attack the Mahayuti government led by Eknath Shinde. Reacting to the arrest of sculptor Apte, BJP leader Praveen Darekar said, ‘Those who were critical of our government should now shut their mouths. It is true that the police took some time to arrest Jaideep Apte. We are not taking any credit for the arrest, but the police did their job.
Also read: ‘The people of Maharashtra will hit them with shoes’, CM Shinde said on MVA’s protest against the fall of Shivaji statue.
Politics heated up in Maharashtra after the sudden collapse of the huge statue. Maharashtra Police has registered an FIR against Jaideep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil under various sections of the Indian Justice Code (BNS). Patil was arrested on August 31, while a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against Apte. Opposition leaders objected to the fact that Apte did not have the experience of building such a huge structure, yet how did he get the contract to build the huge statue of Shivaji. Shiv Sena (UBT) was also accusing the Mahayuti government of saving Jaideep Apte.
Also read: Government, Navy, PWD and contractors… Many characters came to light in the case of collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue.
Sindhudurg Police teams were searching for Apte at various places including Mumbai, Thane and Kolhapur. A police unit first went to his residence in Kalyan, Thane district, but found it locked. Police arrested him from Kalyan in Thane late on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress alleged that despite Rs 236 crore being allocated from the state treasury for the project, only Rs 1.5 crore was spent on the construction of the statue. Meanwhile, a five-member technical committee visited Malvan Fort to inspect the site. The police have taken samples of the material used for the statue and its platform and sent it to the forensic lab. The Mahayuti government has said that very soon a strong and grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will be re-established at the same place.