Mumbai: A local court in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district on Thursday sent sculptor-contractor Jaideep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil, arrested in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue collapse case, to police custody till September 10.
Patil was arrested from Kolhapur on August 30, while Apte was arrested from Kalyan in Thane district on Wednesday night, nearly 10 days after an FIR was lodged in connection with the incident. The 35-foot-high statue of Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort in Malvan tehsil of the district fell on August 26. The statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi nearly nine months ago.
Patil and Apte were produced before a court in Malvan where the police sought their custody for interrogation. The court remanded them to police custody till September 10. Apte’s lawyer Ganesh Sovani said the sculptor intended to surrender on Wednesday night and was willing to cooperate with the investigation. “He is ready to hand over all details about the statue’s design and other documents to the police,” Sovani told the court.
Apte, a Thane-based sculptor, had created a 35-foot-high statue of Shivaji Maharaj. Sindhudurg police last month registered an FIR against Apte and Patil under sections related to negligence and other offences of the Indian Penal Code (BNS) in connection with the statue collapse.