On Friday, Chetan Patil, a structural consultant from Kolhapur, was arrested in connection with the recent collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district. The arrest occurred early in the morning through a joint effort by the Kolhapur crime branch and Malvan police, with Patil subsequently taken into Malvan police custody. Although Patil had previously claimed that he was not involved with the statue project but only worked on the platform, he is named in the FIR. He asserted that a Thane-based company was responsible for the statue itself.
The 35-foot statue of the 17th-century Maratha warrior at Rajkot fort in Malvan fell around 1 p.m. on Monday, August 26, less than nine months after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident has sparked political controversy in Maharashtra, which is approaching elections. A state government technical committee has been formed to investigate the cause of the collapse. The Eknath Shinde-led government highlighted that the project was overseen by the Indian Navy, which responded by stating it was responsible for conceptualizing and managing the statue installation in collaboration with the state government, which funded the project. The Navy has pledged to assist in the statue’s repair and reinstatement as soon as possible.
In response to the collapse, members of the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, organized silent protests throughout Maharashtra. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed deep remorse, stating he was willing to apologize repeatedly for the incident and urged opposition parties not to politicize the matter.