The police on Monday arrested 28 persons in connection with the violence at Vedaranyam that resulted in the desecration of a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in the town on Sunday. The district administration also acted swiftly, replacing the damaged life-size statue of the late leader within 12 hours of the incident.
“The sight of the damaged statue would have sparked outrage,” District Collector S. Suresh Kumar said. The new statue, brought from Attur in Salem district, was mounted on the same pedestal on which the old one stood, and was installed in the presence of the DIG and Sub-Collector of Nagapattinam Kamal Kishore. Measures were initiated to provide a fencing around the statue.
The police are on the lookout for more persons who were involved in Sunday’s clash between two groups belonging to different castes. “The arrested persons have been booked under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police, Thanjavur Range, J. Loganathan, after overseeing the process of replacement of the damaged statue.