Pune: Unidentified members of Swabhiman Sanghatna went to Sambhaji Garden on Jangli Maharaj Road around 3am on Tuesday to place a bust of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj on an empty pedestal.The bust was later taken away by policemen and a case of trespassing was filed against them. The police suspect that the men were the same individuals involved in the January 1, 2017 incident where Ram Ganesh Gadkari’s bust that rested on the pedestal was vandalized.A team headed by senior inspector Bhaskar Jadhav of Deccan Gymkhana police station went to the spot after receiving an emergency call. The suspects, about six of them, ran away on spotting the policemen.The Pune Municipal Corporation’s security officer Narayan Gabhale has filed a complaint with the police station.Police have invoked section 448 (trespass), 505 (public mischief), and provisions of Information Technology Act against members of Swabhiman Sanghatna of Khed taluka.The garden’s security guards tried to stop the trespassers who dodged them and reached the spot. The men had not sought any permission from the PMC to keep the statue in the public garden, the FIR states. “The men walked to the empty pedestal and placed the bust of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj,” Jadhav said.Before leaving, a suspect took a selfie with the new bust and wrote a message on the pedestal which he later posted online.Ashok Ghorpade, head of PMC's garden department, said two guards were on night duty. “About seven to eight security staff members were deployed at the garden on Tuesday. The garden also has CCTV surveillance,” he added.

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