THANJAVUR: Miscreants desecrated a statue of Thiruvalluvar, the poet who authored Tamil classical ethical treatise Tirukkural, near here on the early hours of Monday.
The statue located near a building owned by Pillayarpatti Panchayat near here was found blackened with the mud and a paper pasted covering the eyes.
The passersby who noticed this informed the Tamil University police who rushed to the spot and cleaned the statue and garlanded it. Police protection has been posted.
Meanwhile, a group of Tamil enthusiasts gathered near the statue and raised slogans condemning the desecration. They also wanted those who indulged in the vandalism should be arrested.
Police have registered a case and on the lookout for the culprits. They were probing in various angles whether this was a reaction to the depicting Thiruvalluvar with a saffron robe in the Twitter page of Tamil Nadu BJP.
It might be noted the three and a half feet tall statue made of concrete and installed on a pedestal was erected on behalf of Thenninthiya Valluvar Kula Sangam and the residents of Thiruvalluvar street in Pillayarpatti and was declared open by then District collector Shanmugha Veeramoni on August 15, 2005.