Shivaji statue collapse: Fabricator held; used substandard material, say police

Police have arrested a fabricator of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that recently collapsed at a fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, triggering a huge political row, an official said on Friday, 18 October.

Fabricator Parmeshwar Ramnaresh Yadav, who was arrested from Uttar Pradesh, had used substandard material while shaping the 35-foot-tall statue of the Maratha warrior king, he said.

A resident of Mirzapur in UP, Yadav was taken into custody on Thursday after his role in the statue collapse came to light, the official said.

Yadav had been tasked with creating the Shivaji statue by welding separate parts, he said.

Police said the fabricator used inferior material to form the structure and did not join the parts properly through welding.

During a technical analysis, it was found that the collapsed steel statue had rusted in some places, indicating the use of low-quality material, he said.

After his role in the case was established, Yadav was also made an accused and was subsequently placed under arrest on Thursday. He was produced in a court which remanded him in police custody for three days, the official said.

The statue of the 17th-century Maratha empire founder, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district on 4 December (Navy Day) 2023, collapsed on 26 August amid strong winds.

The statue’s sculptor-contractor Jaydeep Apte and consultant Chetan Patil were later arrested.