The accused held for allegedly defacing a statue of late Meenatai Thackeray, wife of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, has been remanded in police custody till September 20 by a court in Mumbai’s Dadar, news agency PTI reported.
Police said they need to determine the motive behind the act by the person of “unsound mind.”
The accused, Upendra Pawaskar, had been living alone in the Dadar area for many years and was reportedly “mentally unsound,” PTI reported, citing the police. He was arrested on Wednesday evening after authorities traced him through CCTV footage, hours after Meenatai Thackeray’s statue at Shivaji Park in Mumbai’s Dadar area was found defaced with oil paint.
The statue desecration came to light around 6.30 am when an onlooker noticed red oil paint on the bust and pedestal, triggering tension in the area.
Meenatai Thackeray, who passed away in 1995, is a widely respected figure in Maharashtra, particularly among Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders and workers.
The police told the court that Pawaskar had brought red paint in a box and threw it on the statue, and investigators needed to recover the container. They also sought to determine if anyone else was involved in the defacement, PTI reported. Pawaskar has a previous record of assault cases at Dadar Police Station, along with two to three other non-cognisable offences. He has been booked under section 298 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class of persons) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Shivaji Park Police Station.
Meanwhile, the Eknath Shinde-headed Shiv Sena on Thursday alleged that Pawaskar is a relative of a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) worker.
Addressing a news conference, party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare said, “He is a cousin of a Shiv Sena (UBT) worker. Shridhar Pawaskar was working as security guard at Matoshri (the residence of Uddhav Thackeray). The relative did a condemnable deed. He has also claimed that Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray were interfering in our family property tussle.”
Speaking on the issue, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “There are such maniacs across the nation and they do wrong deeds. They vent out their frustration anywhere.”
(With PTI inputs)
