Visitors take a picture of a statue of Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi at the National Gandhi Museum, as India marked his 150th birth anniversary, in New Delhi on October 2, 2019. AFP / Money Sharma
NEW DELHI: As India celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, Indian police are investigating a complaint that a cutout of him of displayed at a museum was defaced as the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of his birth this week.
Police officer S. Baghel says graffiti calling Gandhi a traitor of the nation was found scribbled on the cutout when it was taken out for a ceremony on Oct. 2 in Rewa, a town in Madhya Pradesh state.
No one claimed responsibility for the action.
Baghel said Friday also refuted claims from some residents that an urn containing Gandhi’s ashes was missing. He said Gandhi’s ashes were never kept in the museum.
However an earlier report by IANS said “unidentified miscreants stole a portion of his ashes kept at Bapu Bhawan in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa,” quoting police.
IANS further reports from Bhopal:
The miscreants wrote "anti-national" on the picture of the Mahatma that was put up on a hoarding-like structure inside the Bhawan.
Rewa district Congress chief Gurmeet Singh spotted the mischief when he reached Laxman Bagh, which houses the Bapu Bhawan, to pay tributes. He lodged a formal complaint with the police and Congress workers staged a protest seeking identification and action of the miscreants.
Rewa's Superintendent of Police Abid Khan confirmed that a case under Sections 153B, 504 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against unidentified miscreants.
"We received the complaint from Gurmeet Singh and an FIR has been lodged. We are trying to identify the culprits and CCTV footage of Bapu Bhawan and nearby areas is being scanned," he said.
Residents of the area are in a state of shock and at a loss of words on how the miscreants could enter Bapu Bhawan and vandalise the photo without being noticed.
Also expressing his shock at the development, the Mahatma's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, in a statement, said: "Just heard the news that someone/people stole the funeral ashes of my great grandfather kept in a shrine at Gandhi Bhavan in Rewa Madhya Pradesh. They also defaced his photo by spraying the word 'Traitor'. Wish he wasn't the father of the nation, wish he wasn't Mahatma. Wish he was only my great grandfather."
