Hyderabad: The police arrested two people after finding a damaged Ambedkar statue being carriedĀ in a garbage truck yesterday.
According to media reports, the statue was removed by the civic staff after it was installed without permission a day before theĀ birth anniversary of the DalitĀ leader.
An internal inquiry was ordered by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation andĀ an outsourced vehicle operator was suspended in this connection. A civic staff prevented a group of people from attempting to install the life-size statue near Panjagutta circle here without getting the necessary permission and the statue was shifted to a nearby stadium.
They claimed the statue was removed in the truck hours later by the outsourced operator without authorisation and it suffered damage when some people intercepted the vehicle and tried to take it out forcibly. However, members of the Dalit organisations, who held protests demanding action against those responsible for the incident, maintained they found the statue damaged in the garbage truck.
Acting on a complaint by a Dalit outfit leader, Police arrested the GHMC driver of the truck and another person on charges of damaging the statue and shifting it in the garbage truck to the dumping yard. The complainant alleged he found broken pieces of the Ambedkar statue when garbage was unloaded at the dumping yard. The driver had told him he carried out the instructions of GHMC officials, the Dalit leader said seeking action against those responsible.
The police registered a complaint under the SC/ST (Preventionof Atrocities) Act and the IPC and further investigation was on to identity other culprits.