KALYAN: The 39-year-old artist and ex-JJ School of Art alumnus, who was booked for the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji statue, has been finally arrested following attempts by family and friends to persuade him to surrender to the authorities.
Teams of Sindhudurg and Thane police were trying to locate the sculptor, Jaydeep Apte, a Kalyan resident with a workshop close to his house.Police sources said Apte’s last known destination was when he and a friend left for Malvan 10 days back to visit the site where the statue was erected. Apte was arrested on Wednesday outside his house. He was coming back to meet his family.
According to police, Apte had contacted his wife and informed her that he was returning home. She shared this information with the police. Apte’s family refused to speak to TOI, but according to police sources they were worried and wanted him to return home and cooperate in the probe. The police have now left for Malvan along with the sculptor to carry forward the probe.
A budding sculptor, Apte first made headlines in 2019 when he was commissioned by the UK-based Sikh Soldier Organisation to fashion a bronze bust of a Sikh soldier in honour of those who fought in the two World Wars in the British Army. It was unveiled in West Yorkshire. He also built a statuette of Mahatma Gandhi’s son Manilal for the Dandi memorial in Gujarat.
The Shivaji statue at Malvan for which he won the contract was a much larger figure at 35 feet. A family friend told TOI, “Jaydeep is a good sculptor, but it is true that he did not have the experience of making a big statue. However, I am sure that he will not indulge in corruption…it was a mistake.” Asssociates described the Aptes as an educated, middle-class household without a shadow of controversy.
“His father, who passed away a few years ago, used to work in a big company while he has a sister who is settled abroad after marriage,” a family friend said.
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