Three youths from Faridabad damaged the 200-year-old statues of Queen Victoria in Mathura museum on Friday. The museum guards nabbed two of them but the third managed to escape. The youths' logic for the attack was that these statues were not fit to be retained and so they were damaged on the anniversary of Quit India Movement.
"These three youth were from Swadeshi Sansthan, an organisation in Faridabad, and came to the museum as regular visitors. They attacked the statues of Queen Victoria and two of them were nabbed by security guards while the third one escaped. Search is on for him," superintendent of police, Mathura, Manoj Sonkar told Hindustan Times on Saturday.
These statues of Queen Victoria are made of 'astha-dhatu' (combination of eight metals) and are strong. They were brought to the museum in 1984 from Etah and Badaun.
These three vandals, Arvind Tyagi, Rinku and their associate, claimed to be member of Rajeev Dixit Memorial Swadeshi Sansthan and had purchased tickets as routine. It is believed they had other associates standing outside, who moved away after the incident.
These three reached the rear park of the museum where the statues were kept. They got a large hammer from their associates standing on the other side of the wall and vandalised the statues before the guards could respond.
{{/usCountry}}These three reached the rear park of the museum where the statues were kept. They got a large hammer from their associates standing on the other side of the wall and vandalised the statues before the guards could respond.
{{/usCountry}}As the security guards caught them, one bit into the guard's hand and ran away. Police reached the spot, arrested both and seized the hammer from them, but not before they damaged the nose of a statue and fingers of two other statues of Queen Victoria.