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The six-member panel constituted to probe the January 26 vandalism of BR Ambedkar's statue in Amritsar submitted its report on Thursday to Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda.
Nadda had on January 31 constituted a panel to probe the incident. The committee has recommended to Nadda that a probe into the incident be done by the National Investigation Agency. (NIA) A youth on Republic Day vandalised the life-size statue of Ambedkar in Amritsar by climbing atop it and striking it with a hammer. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media. Earlier, National President of the Republican Party of India and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale took a jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said that the incident where the statue of BR Ambedkar was disrespected reflected a complete failure of Punjab's government. Athawale had held a press conference in Amritsar and demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should take moral responsibility and resign immediately. On January 29, he visited Heritage Street in Amritsar to pay tribute to BR Ambedkar and gather detailed information regarding the incident of vandalism against his statue. Athawale had held a meeting with the Police Commissioner of Amritsar, Gurpreet Bhullar, the District Officer of Amritsar, Mahesh Sahni, and the Municipal Commissioner of Amritsar, Gurjot Singh Aulakh, along with other local administrative officials. However, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also strongly condemned the incident, calling it "highly condemnable." He assured that no one responsible for the act would be spared and vowed that those behind it would face severe punishment. On Sunday, the Punjab Police said that they had arrested a few miscreants for allegedly attempting to tamper with the statue. A case has been registered, and an investigation is ongoing to determine the motive behind the incident. "A few miscreants tried to tamper with BR Ambedkar's statue at Town hall. We caught them and a case has been registered and an investigation is going on. The motive behind the incident is yet to be found out...," Jagjit Singh Walia, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police in Amritsar told ANI. (ANI)
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