Bengaluru/Belgavi: Sadashivanagar Police have arrested seven men since Saturday evening including President of Karnataka Ranadhira Force Chetan Gowda for allegedly defacing the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Sankey Tank Road in Bengaluru. The incident took place on Friday night.
The arrested are identified as Chetan Kumar, Gurudev Narayan Kumar - who is the son of former MLA T. Narayan Kumar and national president of Akhila Karnataka Kannada Movement Central Committee Varun, Naveen Gowda, Vinod, Chetan Kumar and Yogesh.
These accused poured black ink on the face of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on Friday night as retaliation for the burning of the Kannada flag at Kolhapur in Maharashtra recently.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, DCP Anucheth (Bengaluru Central Division) said, "the accused had planned to deface the Shivaji statue four days before the incident. They came to Sankey Tank for inspection last Monday and Tuesday. They again came on Wednesday but they were sent back by police on patrol. The statue of Shivaji is very tall, so they had brought a ladder. Finally, on Friday night, 13 people came to the spot by a car, two in an auto, one on bike and succeeded in defacing the statue. Varun & Vinod poured ink on the statue while Naveen Gowda captured the video and shared it on social media. Now, we have arrested the seven accused. The remaining accused are absconding and we are searching for them".
Meanwhile, police have detained The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (popularly known as, KaRaVe) activists who were protesting against vandalizing Freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna Statue in Belgavi.
Hundreds of KaRaVe activists were all ready to hold bike rally but they were detained and taken into custody by police. Prohibitory order has been imposed in Belagavi from December 18 morning 8 am till 6 am on December 20.
Tension erupted in Belagavi after a purported video that showed some people pouring black ink on the face of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Sankey Tank Road in Bengaluru went viral. Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) followers gathered in Belagavi and protested against the Karnataka government at Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maharaj Circle. The miscreants smashed around 26 vehicles of the Karnataka government and police at Belagavi on Friday night.
They also damaged the glasses of a hotel, a bank and Kannada boards. The protestors alleged that Kannada goons have defaced a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Bengaluru.
