Pune: Youth installs Sambhaji's statue in garden without permission

A case of trespassing and creating tension in society under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against him

Fed up of the delay in installing a statue of Sambhaji in the eponymous garden run by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), a Pune youth went ahead and completed the job himself. He installed the statue in the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Garden and even took a video of the same, which went viral on social media. The Pune police later removed the statue.

In January 2017, the statue of well-known Marathi playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari was removed from the garden by admirers of Sambhaji. This time, Ganesh Karle, a member of Swabhimani Sangathana, installed Sambhaji's statue there. A case of trespassing and creating tension in society under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against him.

Inspector Arun Avhad from Deccan Gymkhana police station said, "On Tuesday, around 3 am Karle installed the statue. He then uploaded a video in which he warned people against removing it. As soon as we were alerted to the video, we removed the statue to avoid tension in the area and had to increased bandobast in the city. The municipal corporation will soon install Sambhaji Maharaj's statue in the garden."

Karle said, "For the past two years, the government and politicians have been delaying the installation of the statue. On the occasion of Shivaji Maharaj's birth anniversary we installed it ourselves." Sambhaji Brigade's Pune city president Santosh Shinde said, "We have been demanding the installation of Chhatrapati Sambhaji's statue for the past eight years but no political party is keen on pursuing it."

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