BENGALURU:A granite slab erected as a plaque to honour 26/11 martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan in Bengaluru’s Yelahanka New Town area has been completely damaged after a truck accidentally rammed into it on Sunday night. Initially, the incident was mistaken for malicious vandalism and pictures of the ‘vandalised’ memorial triggered outrage on social media.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara expressed shock through a tweet and directed BBMP Commissioner to N Manjunath Prasad to restore the structure immediately.
During investigations, police personnel from the Yelahanka Traffic Police Station found through a CCTV footage that a milk tanker, belonging to Mother Diary, rammed into the plaque late on Sunday night. A case has been registered.
Following the incident and the outrage on social media, senior police officers too visited the spot. They held a meeting with the BBMP officers and were assured that the plaque would be reinstalled soon.
Major Unnikrishnan, a Bengalurean, was a member of the National Security Guard (NSG) force, which conducts anti-terror operations. He lost his life while carrying out an operation to rescue hostages trapped inside the Taj Mahal Hotel during the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.On Monday night, BBMP started the reconstruction work of the plaque.