Cops find writer's bust, dunk it in river again for video

PUNE: The Deccan Gymkhana police recovered the bust of noted Marathi playwright and poet Ram Ganesh Gadkari from the Mutha river on Wednesday, a day after it was knocked down from its pedestal at Sambhaji Garden and thrown into the waters by workers of the Sambhaji Brigade and Swabhimani Sanghatana.
Interestingly, the police decided to give the bust a second dunking in the water as they forgot to shoot the recovery episode for their records.
A police team, after securing custody of the four men allegedly involved in the crime, took them to the garden and the river nearby and recreated the entire vandalisation scene.
The suspects told the police how they had torn down the bust in the garden and how and where they had dumped it in the river.
The police began their search for the bust around 3 pm and took the help of two people who regularly scour the waters for valuables. The two assistants found the bust while wading in the river towards the bridge located behind Balgandharva Rangmandir.
The bust was kept on a concrete parapet along the river and inspected by the police team.
Just as the police were to take the bust away, they realised that they had not filmed the recovery.
The two assistants, on orders from the police, again deposited the statue in the water while the cops put their cameras in video mode. The assistants put on an act of searching for the bust and pulled it out again. It was again placed on the parapet, inspected by the police and taken away covered in a cloth.