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Bust of Rajiv Gandhi damaged

Photo: Special Arrangement

PROTEST: Congress men demonstrating in front of the damaged Rajiv Gandhi statue at Kodungaiyur, Chennai, on Friday. —

CHENNAI: A bust of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was damaged at Kodungaiyur here on Friday, triggering protests from Congress cadres, who resorted to road blockade demanding the arrest of those involved.

The police said that B. Ramamoorthy (39) of Chinnadimadam in Kodungaiyur had been arrested in connection with the incident.

According to police sources, the damage to the bust on First Street in SIDCO Nagar was detected early in the day. A couple of hours later, nearly 200 Congress cadres, including women, blocked traffic on Mannadi Road condemning the incident.

At about 1.40 p.m., nearly 30 party functionaries squatted on Anna Salai disrupting traffic in front of Spencer’s Plaza. They were taken into custody and released in the evening. The statue of Rajiv Gandhi was installed in 1999.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.V. Thangkabalu urged the State government to arrest those who had damaged the bust and those who were trying to mobilise support for the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). These incidents showed that the group, which was behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, was active in Tamil Nadu. The State government should crack down on the group, the statement added.

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