Udupi: Sculptor of the 33-feet tall statue of Parashurama at Umikkal Hill in Karnataka has accused the police of harassing him in the name of investigation.
In a video, artist Krishna Naik alleged that the police were accompanied by Congress leader Uday Muniyal. “The police have seized all materials and forced me to write statements during the mahazar without proper documentation. I was called to the Karkala police station twice. Inquiries were conducted without recording the proceedings. Congress leader had brought Muslim men to collect the idol," he alleged in the video.
“Police are mentally harassing me. For the investigation purpose, the police should take only a sample of the statue and not the entire statue,” he added in the video.
After the allegations of corruption in the setting up of a Parashurama Theme Park and the installation of a statue of Parashurama, the state government had ordered a CIB probe into the allegations.
Based on a complaint by Krishna Shetty, a resident of Nallur village in Karkala, a cheating case was also registered against the sculptor at the Karkala town police station.
The complainant had alleged that Krishna of Krish Art World received Rs 1.25 crore from Udupi Nirmithi Kendra to install a bronze statue of Parashurama at the Parashurama Theme Park in Karkala. However, the accused has allegedly cheated the government by making a fake lookalike bronze statue.
SP clarifies
Udupi SP Dr Arun K clarified that as a routine procedure in all cases, the complainant in the case was informed that materials are being seized and he or his representative may be present to sign in the Mahazar along with the Panch witnesses.
“It is clarified that notice was issued to the accused and seizure of mahazar was done. To our understanding, there is no direction from the high court to restrain police from seizing the material. Next date of hearing in the high court is on August 20. The seizure procedure is video recorded. And the local PS Inspector (Annapoorneshwari Nagar Police Station) has a body-worn Camera. We will verify all the video footage and see if there are any merits on the claims raised by the accused,” the SP said.