Pune Corporation removes Dadoji Konddev statue past midnight

In a swift operation at 2 am on Monday, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) removed the statue of Dadoji Konddev, historically considered the Brahmin tutor of Chhatrapati Shivaji, from the historic Lal Mahal with the help of a huge police force.

Around 1,500 policemen were deputed for the task and a 500-metre area around Lal Mahal was closed to vehicles and pedestrians. A PMC team started the work at 2 am and removed the statue in half an hour. The statue was temporarily shifted to the PuLa Deshpande Garden.

A police team reached the spot at 1.30 am and sealed off the area.

The police also detained 34 Shiv Sena workers who were keeping vigil at Lal Mahal to prevent removal of the statue. On learning of the development, Sena leaders Neelam Gorhe and Sham Deshpande reached the spot and were also taken into custody.

They were released at 4 am.

The PMC on Monday was directed by a city court to submit its say by Thursday on a private suit demanding status quo on a composite sculpture in Lal Mahal of Shivaji, his mother Jijabai and teacher Dadoji Konddev.

The private suit was filed on Saturday by historian Pandurang Namdevrao Balkawde along with convener of Samajik Samarasata Manch, Suresh Dattatray Nashikakar, and member of the Lal Mahal Utsav Samiti, Chandrashekhar Vinayak Shinde.

The PMC’s general body had passed a resolution last week to remove the statue of Dadoji Konddev from the historic Lal Mahal.
After hearing both the sides, joint civil judge and judicial magistrate (first class), SP Dorle, directed PMC lawyer Sureshchandra Bhosale and additional public prosecutor representing Maharashtra, Shashikant Jagtap, to give their say on the applications and documents filed in its support by the
complainants on Thursday.

The court of joint civil judge (senior division) had issued a show cause notice to municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade and district collector Chandrakant Dalvi and directed them to be present before the court on Monday (December 27) with all
relevant documents.

Defence lawyers requested the court to grant them 10 days to present their say in the case as they did not receive copies of the documents attached with the application filed by the complainants. However, after the complainants gave the attached copies of evidence to the defence counsels, the court fixed December 30 as the next date of hearing.

However, complainants’ lawyers, Girish Shinde and Anil Visal, also moved an interrogatories application before the court for seeking information from the PMC on removal of the statue from Lal Mahal.

The complainant asked the PMC when did the civic chief receive the resolution approving removal of the statue of Konddev; whether the municipal commissioner had examined the legality of the resolution, when did he order removal of the statue and whether it was not a fact that he was served with the notice of the suit before the removal of the statue.

The court ordered the PMC to submit its say on interrogatories with documentary evidence. Meanwhile, the court admitted the application filed by advocate Ranade to make him a third party in the case to give his say in the case as a taxpayer of the city and advocate Anant Darvatkar, who requested the court to grant permission to Shivpremi Sanghatana, supporting removal of Konddev stature, to become a party to the case.