Jaydeep Apte, 39, the sculptor who made Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s 28-feet statue in Malvan, which collapsed in August, has approached the HC seeking bail, claiming that the bronze statue fell because of the gusty winds.
On August 26, the statue erected at Rajkot Fort in Malvan collapsed. The statue was inaugurated on December 4 last year by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. The 28-feet statue was erected on a 12-feet pedestal at the cost of Rs2.44 crore. Apte received his Diploma in Sculpting and Modelling in 2010 from JJ School of Arts.
An FIR was lodged by officers of the Public Works Department (PWD) with the local police under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. Apte surrendered before the police and was sent to judicial custody.
Initially, he sought bail from the sessions court at Oros, which was rejected on October 1. Hence he approached the HC.
Apte, proprietor of M/s Artistry, said he made the bronze statue on the basis of the work order issued on September 8, 2023 by the Naval Dockyard. His plea contended that the Naval Dockyard authority never complained of any artistic deficiency or shortcomings. Also, the FIR was registered within nine hours of the falling of the status by officers of the PWD, who have no technical expertise in metallurgy.
Moreover, the FIR does not allege any person getting injured over the falling of the statue. At the most, it could be a case of negligence.
His plea added that Dr Chetan Patil, who was also arrested, was entrusted with the construction of pedestal, erection and stability analysis. During inspection on August 20, PWD officers found that the nuts and bolts used to fix the status on the pedestal were rusted.
“Precautionary measures could have been taken keeping in mind that the statue will last for several centuries and that too in good state,” the plea read. Apte's plea is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday. ‘
