Pune (Maharashtra): The Crime Branch Of Kolhapur Police on Friday arrested a structural consultant from Kolhapur in connection with the collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district earlier this week.
Chetan Patil was taken into custody late on Thursday night and handed over to Sindhudurg police for an addition investigation, Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Mahendra Pandit said. However, Patil on Wednesday said that he was not the structural consultant for the project.
Patil said that he had only designed the platform and had nothing to do with the construction of the interior of the statue itself. Artist Jaydeep Apte said that he had submitted the design of the platform to the Indian Navy through the state's Public Works Department (PWD) but again, was not involved with the building of the statue.
The 35-foot statue of the 17-century Maratha warrior king, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg on Navy Day 2023, collapsed on Monday, August 26. The collapse triggered a political storm in the state which is headed to the polls. Supporters of BJP's Narayan Rane and Shiv Sena (UBT) clashed at Rajkot Fort on Thursday.
The police have been looking for Patil since Monday and finally detained him from his residence in Yatra Kolhapur on Thursday. Further investigation is underway, Crime Branch Inspector Ravindra Kamalkar said.
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