“Everyone is equal before law…”: Maharashtra CM on arrest of sculptor of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 5 (ANI): Following the arrest of Jaydeep Apte, the sculptor of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue, Maharahstra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said that everyone is equal before the law and Apte will now be investigated.

“I had said this earlier; everyone is equal before the law and he was bound to get arrested… Jaydeep Apte will now be investigated. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is our god and what happened was very unfortunate. Politizing the matter is very unfortunate,” CM Shinde told reporters.
Earlier today, the sculptor of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Jaydeep Apte, was arrested by police.

According to the Sindhudurg Police, Jaydeep Apte was arrested from Thane and will be produced before the competent court later today.
The police officials said, “Sindhudurg Police has arrested sculptor Jaydeep Apte in connection with the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He has been taken from Thane to Sindhudurg and will be produced before the competent court later today.”

Earlier, Chetan Patil, the structural consultant of the Shivaji Maharaj statue that collapsed in the Malvan area of Sindhudurg, was arrested from Kolhapur.
The FIR was registered under sections 109, 110, 125, 318, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as confirmed by Sindhudurg Police.
A 35-foot-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg district collapsed on August 26. It was unveiled on December 4 last year as part of Navy Day celebrations and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The collapse of the statue of the Maratha state’s iconic founder has sparked a significant political war between leaders of the state, with opposition criticising the Eknath Shinde-led government for the collapse.