A group of men allegedly vandalised a statue of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram inside Ambedkar Bhavan in Gurgaon’s sector 4 area Monday evening. The entire incident was captured on CCTV camera, said police.
According to an eyewitness, the four suspects first conducted a reconnaissance of the area before one of them, armed with a sledgehammer, entered the Bhavan. The video shows the man vandalising the statue with the sledgehammer as the other three keep guard outside.
The statue was installed by the Ambedkar Samaj four months ago, next to a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, said BSP workers.
“When the statue was installed, some people gave a written complaint against it to authorities, saying Kanshi Ram was not a social figure but a political one. However, we wrote to the chief secretary over the issue, stating our case,” said Jai Bhagwan, general secretary of Ambedkar Samaj, Sector-4.
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Members and local leaders of the Dalit community Tuesday met Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk and Deputy Commissioner T L Satyaprakash, demanding immediate arrest of those responsible.
Police have registered a case under sections 114,120 B, 427 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
Gurgaon Police have booked 10 persons, including the four unidentified masked men, on charges of criminal conspiracy, mischief causing damage and criminal intimidation.
Police, however, claimed that, prima facie, the incident seemed to be the result of an “internal dispute”. “We have recovered the CCTV footage and have also recorded statements of eyewitnesses. This is a matter of investigation and we are questioning those named in the FIR,” said Balwan Singh, deputy commissioner of police (west).
