NAVI MUMBAI/KALYAN: A court in Malvan on Thursday remanded sculptor
Jaydeep Apte in police custody and extended the custody of structural consultant Chetan Patil till Sept 10 in the Shivaji statue collapse case.
Apte had installed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue at Rajkot fort in Malvan. It collapsed on Aug 26.
Apte's lawyer, Ganesh Sovani, claimed he surrendered because he was fed up with "dirty politics". "The allegations levelled against him are false. He spoke to his wife on Wednesday, who asked him to surrender. We then informed police," he said. Police, however, claimed that they arrested him on the basis of specific information.
Patil had surrendered before police in Kolhapur last week. He is likely to be questioned on how he obtained the contract to execute the statue, the time period for its construction, its strength, whether any pressure was mounted on him to expedite the work, and financial transactions of the contract.
Meanwhile, CM Eknath Shinde said it was unfortunate that the
issue had been politicised. "...be it Jaydeep Apte or anyone else, everyone is equal and no one is above law... He would have been caught no matter where he ran or hid. This is a big slap on the opposition, who were doing politics. Jaydeep Apte will be investigated.... This incident was unfortunate, but politicising it is even more unfortunate. Our govt's aim is to make a grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj there again," he said.
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