KOCHI: The Mahatma Gandhi statue in front of the Gandhi Peace Foundation office in Kacheripady here was vandalised in broad daylight on Thursday. Deepu, a mentally challenged North Indian, was arrested in connection with the incident.
The insult heaped on the memory of the Father of the Nation comes barely days before the nation is all set to mark Bapu’s 150th birth anniversary.
The incident, which resulted in the statue being knocked down from its pedestal — it broke into two due to the impact of the fall — was first noticed by the Ekta Parishad activists.
After an alarm was raised, Gandhi Peace Foundation activists rushed to the scene.
They later lodged a police complaint.
“This is pretty unfortunate since the vandalism took place when the nation is set to celebrate Gandhiji’s 150 birth anniversary. It is really a sad day for the nation,” said V M Michael, Gandhi Bhavan and Peace Foundation secretary, who came to know of it barely an hour after the incident.
“We identified the person from CCTV footage which showed him trying to pull down the statue from its base. Though he failed to do it in the first attempt, he eventually managed to break it into two,” said a police officer.
“Based on this we scoured the area and finally found the accused who was still breaking stones near the area. The preliminary investigation showed him to be mentally unstable,” said the officer.
The suspect has been slapped with Sections 447 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code.
“We have produced him before the court. Since he is mentally unstable, it is not possible to accommodate him here. Most probably he will be dispatched to Thrissur,” said the police.