Shivaji statue: Sculptor-contractor, consultant sent to police custody

A local court in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district on Thursday, 5 September, remanded sculptor-contractor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil, held over the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue, to police custody till 10 September.

While Patil was arrested on 30 August from Kolhapur, Apte was taken into custody on Wednesday night from Kalyan in Thane district, nearly 10 days after an FIR was registered in connection with the incident.

A 35-foot statue of the iconic Maratha warrior king collapsed at the Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of the district on 26 August, nearly nine months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled it.

Patil and Apte were produced before a court in Malvan where the police sought their custody for interrogation.

The court remanded them in police custody till 10 September.

Apte’s advocate Ganesh Sovani said the sculptor had intended to surrender on Wednesday night and that he was willing to cooperate with the probe.

“He is willing to submit to the police all details regarding the design of the statue and other documents,” Sovani told the court.

Apte, a Thane-based sculptor, was responsible for creating the 35-foot statue of Shivaji Maharaj.

The Sindhudurg police had registered an FIR against Apte and Patil for the collapse of the statue last month, under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for negligence and other offences.