MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursdaysaidstrictactionwill be taken against Jaideep Apte, the sculptor of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue that collapsed in Malvan in the State’s Sindhudurgdistrictlastmonth, and asserted no one will be spared in the case. Shinde said Apte’s arrest by thepoliceonWednesdaynight is a tight slap on the face ofthe Opposition, which he claimed was spreading rumours that the State Government was shielding him. “Be it Jaideep Apte or anybody, no one is above the law.

 

There will be strict action against him. No one will be spared,” Shinde said. The Sindhudurg police produced sculptor-contractor Jaydeep Apte and consultant Chetan Patil beforeacourt there and saidinterrogationwasrequired to find out what kind of materials they had used to design andconstructthe 35-foot statue.

 

Both have been remanded topolicecustodytillSeptember 10.While Patil was arrested on August30fromKolhapur, Apte was taken into custody on Wednesday night from Kalyan inThanedistrict,nearly10days after an FIR was registered in connection with the incident. The Sindhudurg police told the Court the materials recovered from the Shivaji Maharaj statuewererustedanditneeds to be ascertained if items of subpar quality were used by the accused.