Urn carrying Gandhiji’s ashes missing, claims Congress leader

A poster of Mahatma Gandhi at a museum in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, was found defaced, and the miscreants wrote rashtradrohi (traitor) on it.

The Rewa police have registered a case against unidentified persons.

Furthermore, Congress district president Gurmeet Singh (Mangu) has claimed an urn carrying the ashes of Gandhiji was also stolen from the Bapu Bhavan museum on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We are investigating the case of the poster being smeared. No arrests have been made so far,” said Abid Khan, Rewa Superintendent of Police.

In a written complaint to the police, Mr. Singh said: “On a poster of Mahatma Gandhi at the Bapu Bhawan, words like traitor had been written. And an urn carrying his mortal remains was also missing. A high-level inquiry must be initiated into this.”

Though the police have taken the complaint, Mr. Khan said, the Lakshman Bagh Sansthan, which manages the Bhavan, has not approached them yet.

“The urn, if it existed and was stolen, didn’t carry remains,” claimed Mr. Khan. “We are not investigating the urn aspect for now. Whether there was such an urn there in the first place needs to be looked into. If it was stolen, why didn’t the sansthan, the custodian, file a complaint,” he wondered.

The police had registered a case against unidentified persons under Sections 153 (B) [ Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration], 504 [Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace] and 505 [Statements conducing to public mischief] of the Indian Penal Code.