1 held for damaging Rajiv Gandhi statue at Kodungaiyur

Written by Writer on Saturday, October 25th, 2008

1 held for damaging Rajiv Gandhi statue at Kodungaiyur

25 Oct 2008, TNN

CHENNAI: The police on Friday evening arrested a 39-year-old man for damaging former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statue, which was installed on a five-feet high pedestal at Kodungaiyur.

Ramamurthy, a daily labourer residing in Kodungaiyur, was nabbed by the police team when he was identified by one of the eyewitnesses who noticed him pelting stones on the statue on Thursday night.

“The accused was also watching the police movement right from the morning. We managed to trace him only with the clue provided by a tiffin shop employee,” a police officer said.

The bust-high statue was found damaged on Friday morning. Noticing it, some Congress party cadres informed their party functionaries. This created a flutter among the public and Congress party cadres staged a road roko .

They insisted on the culprit behind the incident being arrested. Against the backdrop of the arrest of MDMK party chief Vaiko on Thursday on pro-LTTE charges, the vandalising incident created panic among the Congress party cadres. They suspect that this could have also been the handiwork of MDMK party functionaries.

Ramamurthy was remanded in judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate court on Friday.