Sculptor, two Nirmiti Kendra officers charged in Parashurama Theme Park case

The Karkala Town police have filed a cost sheet accusing sculptor Krishna Naika, Udupi District Nirmiti Kendra Project Director Arun Kumar and Nirmiti Kendra Engineer Sachin Y. Kumar in reference to sculpting the Parashurama idol for Parashurama Theme Park at Ummikal Betta, close to Karkala, in Udupi district.

The police filed a 1,231-page cost sheet in opposition to the three individuals, charging them with offences underneath Sections 120B (legal conspiracy), 409 (legal breach of belief), 420 (dishonest), and 201 (inflicting disappearance of proof) earlier than the Senior Civil Judge and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court docket in Karkala on Monday.

A grievance was filed on June 21, 2024, by Krishna Shetty, stating that Mr. Naika of Krish Art World acquired funds from Nirmiti Kendra for carving a Parashurama idol and putting in it on the theme park. Instead of creating a bronze idol, Naika created a pretend idol and deceived the federal government, he alleged.

In an announcement, the police stated that, based mostly on the investigation and skilled opinion, it was revealed that Naika had certainly used brass as an alternative of bronze to make the statue.

Mr. Arun and Mr. Sachin didn’t adhere to the phrases and circumstances specified within the work order issued to sculpt the statue. On October 12, 2023, the higher a part of the Parashurama idol, from the waist up, was taken from Ummikal Betta and saved within the shed belonging to the Nirmiti Kendra in Pragati Nagar, Alevoor village, Udupi Taluk, until February 25, 2024. That portion of the idol was handed over to the sculptor who falsely claimed that it was transported to Bengaluru, the police acknowledged.

It is price mentioning that the then Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, inaugurated the theme park on January 27, 2023. He unveiled the 33-foot statue of Parashurama, which is a part of the ₹10 crore challenge. The theme park has an amphitheatre with a seating capability of 1,000, a bhajan mandir, an artwork gallery, and a movie studio.

The Congress staff had alleged corruption within the challenge and stated the statue was not totally made from bronze.

Police had arrested the sculptor in Kerala on November 11, 2024, and produced him earlier than a Karkala court docket. Later, he was launched on bail.

MLA reacts

Reacting to the event, Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar, additionally a former Minister, stated on Tuesday that for a very long time, he had been talking about lapses within the carving of the statue and had requested Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order an inquiry.

Instead, as half of a bigger conspiracy in opposition to BJP leaders, the Congress authorities falsely campaigned for 2 years that the statue was made from fibreglass, relatively than bronze. The authorities ought to now give attention to growing the theme park as a tourism vacation spot. If the federal government fails to offer funds for the park, he might be compelled to beg the general public for funds for the park improvement, Mr. Kumar acknowledged.