The prime accused in the Mayawati statue vandalisation case, Amit Jani and two of his accomplices, Rajendra Singh alias Ferrari and Qasim Ali have been remanded in 14-day judicial custody by a trial court here on Saturday.
Mr. Jani, who is the president of the Uttar Pradesh Nav Nirman Sena, and Mr. Singh were arrested from a mall in Gurgaon (Haryana) by the Special Task Force (STF) late on Friday night. Mr. Ali, who is the State president of the Nav Nirman Sena was arrested from Gomtinagar here the same night.
They were presented before Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Upadhyaya on Saturday and were remanded in judicial custody till August 9. The court had earlier rejected Mr. Ali’s bail plea.
Mr. Jani told reporters that he had no regrets for the incident.
The STF had been requisitioned to track down Mr. Jani and other members of the Sena after they fled to Lucknow in two luxury vehicles on Thursday following the vandalisation of the former Chief Minister’s statue at Ambedkar park in Gomtinagar.
With this, six persons have been arrested in the case. Alok Srivastava, his son Arpit Srivastava and an employee of a PR firm, Vishal Mishra were arrested on Thursday and were sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a local court on Friday.
Ambedkar statues desecrated
Close on the heels of this incident, the statues of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar were vandalised at three villages in Azamgarh district. According to the police, the incidents occurred late on Friday night and the vandalism was noticed on Saturday when parts of the statue were found strewn in the nearby fields.
No arrests have been made and the vandalism is said to be the handiwork of miscreants.
Workers of the Bahujan Samaj Party blocked the Katat-Chaktaat road for some time. They lifted the blockade after the administration said new statues would be installed.
When contacted, the Station House Officer of the Mehnagar police station, Jagdish Kushwaha said over phone that all three statues have been replaced. No arrests have been made, he added.
