Maharashtra: First arrest made in Shivaji's statue collapse case, accused consultant arrested in Kolhapur

Structural consultant Chetan Patil has been arrested for the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Patil has been detained from Kolhapur. Chetan Patil was arrested by the police on Thursday night. After this, Sindhudurg police interrogated him. This is the first arrest in this case.

A few days ago, the police registered a case against the contractor who had made the statute and the structural consultant. Last year on Navy Day (December 4), PM Narendra Modi unveiled this statue at Rajkot Fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg. The Shinde government has also been criticized a lot due to the collapse of the statue just eight months after its unveiling.

What did Chetan Patil say in defense?

On Wednesday, Chetan Patil said that he was not a structural consultant in this project. Speaking to a Marathi news channel, Patil had said that he had submitted the design of the platform to the Indian Navy through the state's Public Works Department (PWD), but he was not directly involved in the project. Patil had said, "A Thane-based company did the work related to the statue. I was just asked to work on the platform on which the statue was being erected."

It is being claimed that the statue was not built properly. Its quality was very poor. The nuts and bolts used in the structure were rusted.

NCP opened a front against its government after the statue fell

After this incident, the opposition in Maharashtra has started accusing the state government of corruption and insulting the Maratha warrior. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which is part of the Maharashtra government, held a silent protest across the state on Thursday over the incident. It demanded action against those responsible for this.