Meenatai's statue desecrated, 1 held amid political outrage

MUMBAI: Police late on Wednesday evening arrested a man, identified as Upendra Pawaskar, for allegedly defacing the statue of the late Meenatai Thackeray, wife of Shiv Sena founder (late) Bal Thackeray, at Shivaji Park. The statue had been found defaced with oil paint, prompting police to launch a probe amid outrage voiced by workers from across political parties.

A police officer said Pawaskar would be produced in court on Thursday, and they were trying to find out the motive behind the act or if he had carried it out at someone's behest.

The incident came to light when an onlooker spotted red oil paint on the statue and pedestal at around 6.30am. As the news spread, workers of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena UBT rushed to the spot and cleaned the premises. The police were subsequently informed, an officer said.

Eight teams were formed to identify the perpetrators, the police officer said, adding that police scanned footage from CCTV cameras installed in the Shivaji Park area.

An FIR was registered against unidentified persons under Section 298 of BNS. The incident brought together workers of Sena UBT and MNS, strengthening the buzz of reconciliation between the two parties led by cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, respectively. As emotions ran high among workers, Uddhav and Raj visited the site separately.

CM Devendra Fadnavis said during the day, "I protest the incident. The anti-social element responsible for the crime will be arrested soon. It will not be appropriate to give any political colour to the incident." Deputy CM Eknath Shinde too condemned the incident.