KR Market in Bengaluru, a place that is usually buzzing with people even at 2 am in the night, has stumped Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) officials and even the Mayor of the city with a strange mystery. On the morning of December 6, a bust of B.R Ambedkar, the father of our Constitution, was found installed on a six-feet tall podium.

Where did it come from?

Neither can BBMP or the people who visit the hustling KR market every day have an idea as to who had installed the statue in the heart of the market. BBMP assumes that it was installed under the veil of darkness on December 5 or early morning on December 6. It might not have been an easy task. The statue is almost nine feet tall. The bust is almost three feet.

BBMP officials, who were on round on December 6, found the statue installed beside the Indira canteen, inside a BMTC bus station. The area is 50m away from the police station. The installation of a statue this big has stunned everyone as the police station is too close to the place of installation.

This is illegal too as per the state government order issued on June 11, 2012, that without prior permission, nobody can install statues of personalities at public places. It states “installation of statues of public figures, religious structures by encroaching public place, pavements and roads is banned.”

BBMP officials have filed a complaint with the City Market police station and have urged them to find out who put up the statue illegally. The police are facing a challenge as nobody has seen anyone install the garlanded statue. They are trying to figure out a legal way to get rid of the illegal structure, without hurting anyone’s sentiments. 

The Logical Indian spoke to City Market police Inspector B Maruthi and he said “There is no CCTV footage available. The statue was built behind the Indira canteen and only CCTV footage available is from the front side of the canteen. With the help of BBMP, we are going to remove the statue.”

The Mayor of Bengaluru, Gangambike Mallikarjun, told India Today TV, “Officials should have brought this to my notice in the first place. I will now speak to the Joint Commissioner and Chief Engineer as to how this statue appeared overnight.”

Blame game

The statue was installed on BBMP property, 50m from the police station. Talking to Bangalore Mirror, a BBMP official blamed the police for ignorance. “The KR Market area is always crowded at any time of the day or night. Especially during the night, there are vendors unloading goods and arranging them for the next morning’s sale. It is highly impossible for someone to install the statue so secretly,” the BBMP official said.

He further said that bricks, cement and everything else was brought to the area and the six-feet podium was built. The bust was then installed on top of it and the bust was garlanded.

An officer from City Market police station said, “We are yet to trace the people who have installed the statue. When we inquired with the people in the area, they claim none of them saw anyone installing it. One CCTV camera faces the BMTC bus stand and the other CCTV camera was not functioning on that day. So we are still looking for clues.” He further said that in a market area, construction is usually conducted in the night as to avoid commotion.

Currently, the area is cordoned off and people are asked not to go near the statue. The Logical Indian hopes that the police figure out how such a big statue can appear overnight 50m from their station.

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