SURAT: Umra police on Thursday arrested five persons who had destroyed a city-based artists’s rangoli of Deepika Padukone in the role of ‘Padmavati’ in a mall on Sunday. The accused were booked for rioting and unlawful assembly on Wednesday night.
Those arrested were identified as Vikramsinh Shekhawat, Shambhusinh Rathore, Narendra Chaudhary, Shailendra Rajput and Sanjay Gohil. “Four persons are members of Karni Sena, an outfit of Rajput community and one is from VHP. Strict actions will be taken against those involved such hooligansim,” Satish Sharma, city police commissioner, told media persons on Thursday.
A complaint was lodged against unidentified persons by security personnel of the Rahul Raj mall where the incident happened.
Karni Sena members had also attacked Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Jaipur and Kolhapur.
Police sources said that more arrests would be made. The incident came under focus after Padukone expressed anger over the incident on her official twitter handle.
On Sunday, two persons first came to the mall where the Ayurveda medical student and artist Karan Jariwala was making the 8 feet wide rangoli of Deepika .
“I told them I was making a rangoli as an artist. I also tried to convince them that the rangoli had nothing to do with the film or controversy related to it. They left atat that time but on reaching home after 9 pm, I received a call from the mall’s security that a group of men had destroyed the artwork,” said Jariwala.
The movie has courted controversy ever since its shooting began. Various Rajput community groups are enraged over what they described as objectionable portrayal of queen Padmavati in the movie.
