Chetan Patil, a structural expert, was taken into custody in Kolhapur in relation to the fall of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Sindhudurg region of Maharashtra.
A structural expert was taken into custody on Friday in relation to the earlier this week fall of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
In a coordinated operation, the Kolhapur crime branch and the Malvan police apprehended Chetan Patil, a Kolhapur resident, early this morning. After then, he was placed under the custody of Malvan police. This arrest comes as part of the ongoing investigation into the collapse of the statue, which has sparked significant public outcry and demands for accountability. The statue, which was an important cultural landmark, fell earlier this week, causing considerable damage and raising questions about the construction and maintenance standards followed for such significant public installations.
a structural consultant was arrested in connection with the recent collapse of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district. Chetan Patil, a resident of Kolhapur, was apprehended early this morning in a coordinated effort by the Kolhapur crime branch and Malvan police and has since been transferred to Malvan police custody.
Patil, who was named in the FIR, had previously claimed that he was not the structural consultant for the statue project. Instead, he asserted that his responsibilities were limited to the platform construction, while the statue work was managed by a company based in Thane.
The 35-foot statue of the 17th-century Maratha warrior king, located at Rajkot Fort in Malvan, collapsed around 1 p.m. on Monday, August 26, less than nine months after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Named in the case’s FIR, Patil had previously denied serving as the project’s structural consultant. He asserted that the construction on the statue itself was left to a Thane-based company, and that his only assignment was to work on the platform. Patil’s claim shifts responsibility to the Thane firm, suggesting potential lapses in their approach to the statue’s construction. This has prompted further scrutiny into the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the project. The authorities are continuing their probe, aiming to bring all responsible parties to justice and prevent future occurrences of such unfortunate incidents.