Police on Tuesday registered a case against the contractor and the structural consultant in connection with the collapse of a 35-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra's Sindhudhurg district.
The 17th century Maratha warrior king's statue was unveiled in December last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajot fort in Sindhudurg's Malvan tehsil on Navy Day.
The structure collapsed around 1 pm on Monday, causing embarrassment to the Eknath Shinde-led government and inviting criticism from the opposition parties. Shinde said that the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
The FIR against the contractor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil was based on a complaint lodged by an assistant engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Malvan police station on Monday evening.
The engineer claimed that the artist and the consultant were responsible for the statue's collapse.
The case was filed under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Sections of attempt to commit culpable homicide, act of endangering life or personal safety of others, attempt to murder and cheating was registered along with Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (mischief causing damage to public property).
Notably the Indian Navy also took note of the "unfortunate incident" and launched an investigation into the matter.
Why Did The Statue Collapse?
PWD minister Ravindra Chavan, also the guardian minister of Sindhudurg, announced the case against Apte and Patil. Chavan said that though the Maharashtra government paid Rs 2.36 crore to the Indian Navy for the statue's installation, the rest of the entire process including selection of artist and design was taken care of by the Navy.
The BJP minister further revealed that the steel used in constructing Shivaji Maharaj's statue had started to rust. "The salt wind from the beach had corroded the nut bolts used to join the statue," he added.
Chavan said that the PWD had already written to the Navy officials about the same and requested them to take the necessary steps.
Further, CM Eknath Shinde had attributed to the statue collapse to strong winds.
"The incident that happened is unfortunate. This statue was erected by the Navy. They had also designed it. But due to strong winds of around 45 km/h, it fell and got damaged. Tomorrow, officials from PWD and the Navy will visit the site and investigate the cause behind it. I sent Public Works Minister Ravindra Chavan to the site as soon as I heard about the incident. We will find out the reasons behind this incident and reinstall the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the same place," Shinde had said.
