text: CRPF soldier arrested for vandalising Periyar statue: Chief minister Palaniswami, India News News | wionews.com
  CRPF soldier arrested for vandalising Periyar statue: Chief minister Palaniswami
  Tamil Nadu, India Published: Mar 21, 2018, 09:53 AM(IST)
  Periyar statue being reinstated in Pudukkottai. Photograph:( ANI )
  A CRPF soldier has been arrested for allegedly vandalising a statue of rationalist leader Periyar in Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami said today.
  After the opposition DMK raised the issue in the state Assembly, Palaniswami said the arrested CRPF jawan identified as Senthil Kumar was posted in Chhattisgarh and had come to his native Viduthi village on leave. He was held after examination of the CCTV footage from the area.
  "It came to be known through CCTV footage and witnesses that he (Kumar) was moving around the place in an inebriated state and when police interrogated him, he admitted to damaging the Periyar statue," the chief minister said.
  Referring to the March 6 incident relating to desecration of a Periyar statue in Vellore district, Palaniswami recalled that a BJP functionary and another man had been arrested.
  "Both these incidents are condemnable. The government will initiate stringent action against anyone found damaging statues of leaders," he said.
  Earlier, DMK Working President and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin criticised BJP National Secretary H Raja for his recent remarks on Periyar statues in the state in the context of razing down of a statue of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin in Tripura recently.
  "Had the government acted against (Raja) then itself, such incidents would not have happened," he said.
  The DMK leader said that he had sought Raja's arrest.
  Raja had courted controversy over a Facebook comment on Periyar statues in Tamil Nadu, which had created a furore in the state.