Chhatrapati statue crash: Sculptor to challenge ‘attempt to murder, conspiracy' charges

Sindhudurg (Maharashtra) : The sculptor who created the ill-fated statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which crashed at the Rajkot Fort on August 26, will challenge the ‘attempt to murder’ and ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ charges slapped on him by the Sindhudurg Police, his lawyer said here on Friday.

The artist, Jaydeep B Apte (39) of Kalyan town in Thane, and structural consultant Chetan S Patil (46), of Kolhapur were arrested on September 5 and August 30, respectively, and slapped with charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 109, 110, 125, 318, 3 and 3(5).

These pertain to attempt to murder, conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, endangering public life, etc, said his lawyer Ganesh Sovani, who plans to challenge the BNS sections invoked by the police at the appropriate stage.

“This is ridiculous, illogical, wrong and total non-application of the mind on the part of the police. The FIR also does not allege injuries to anybody, including tourists, in this unfortunate incident, nor has anybody complained of any bodily harm. Then how can it be an ‘attempt to murder’ or ‘culpable homicide’, and what ‘conspiracy’ is the police referring to,” an indignant Sovani told IANS.

“Moreover, Apte was not given any advance payments for the project and he availed a bank loan for it. It was only after his credentials were established and the statue completed, that his payment was released,” said Sovani.

The 28-foot-tall hollow bronze statue standing majestically on a 12-foot-high pedestal, suddenly crashed into a heap around 12.30 P.M. on August 26, ostensibly owing to inclement weather conditions.

Not surprisingly, this snowballed into a huge national political controversy and public outrage, with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) staging agitations all over the state, accusing the ruling Mahayuti regime of corruption in the project.

The same night around 10 P.M., the regional Public Works Department’s (PWD) Assistant Engineer Ajit J Patil lodged a complaint with the Malvan Police Station in which Apte and Patil figured as the two prime accused.

As the Mahayuti launched a huge damage control exercise on the statue debacle - first highlighted by IANS (Aug. 26) - the scared Apte-Patil duo ‘disappeared’ with police teams from Sindhudurg and Thane hot on their trails.

At Thursday’s hearing before the Malvan Court Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mahesh K Devkate, the Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Tushar Bhange made a strong plea for 10 days’ police custody for Apte, and extension of custody for Patil. Both are now in police custody till September 10.

APP Bhange argued that the investigators want to question them and find out details regarding the money paid for the prestigious project, how it was utilised, when and from whom he got the green signal for the design, where he was hiding for nearly 10 days after the incident and who was in touch with him, etc.

The police want to probe whether they had taken into account various technical aspects like the local coastal weather conditions, the wind speeds, storms, earthquakes, etc before finalising the statue’s design and erecting it there, the workers who helped them to make it and related aspects.

Sovani pointed out that the complainant was hastily lodged by a PWD Assistant Engineer with little or no knowledge on the metallurgy, or local weather conditions, plus there was no scientific analysis or report on these matters produced by the police.

“It was done hurriedly due to huge political backlash. The ideal course would be to form an expert committee, determine the causes of the statue’s crash, whether there were defects in the design or the materials, and if it pointed fingers at anybody, then the FIR should be lodged,” Sovani explained.

Incidentally, on August 29, the Maharashtra government and Indian Navy formed a joint panel of technical experts to determine the causes of the statue’s collapse and also announced plans to erect another grand statue of the legendary Maratha warrior-king there soon.

Meanwhile, the incident saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar apologising, given the potential political ramifications ahead of the state Assembly elections.

However, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that the PM apologise to all the people of Maharashtra, while Congress Presiden and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge termed the incident as an ‘insult’ to the people of the state and the country.

Still under fire from the MVA partners Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena (UBT) for alleged corruption in the project, the Mahayuti regime shunted out the Sindhudurg Collector, downgraded the post, and declared that the culprits responsible would not be spared.