Mayawati statue attackers arrested

At least three people, including national president of little known political group Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena Amit Jani, were arrested in connection to vandalisation of former UP Chief Minister Mayawati's statue, police said on Saturday.

The Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Jani along with his aide Rajendra Singh Chaudhary alias Ferrari from Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Friday.

Lucknow Inspector General of Police Ashutosh Pandey said the police have also arrested a man named Qasim Chaudhary from the city´s Gomti Nagar area on Friday.

According to reports, Qasim is the state president of Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena and was involved in the attack.

Six people have been arrested in the incident so far.

Meanwhile, the damaged statue of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has been replaced by a new one in Lucknow´s Ambedkar Park.

A group of men on Thursday damaged a statue of Mayawati at Ambedkar Park in Gomtinagar.

The attackers claimed to be members of the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena and took the responsibility of the attack.

According to reports, the mob reached the park around 1:30 pm on bikes with hammers and other tools and started damaging the statue.

The attackers broke the hands and the head of the statue.

During a press conference, Sena leaders on Thursday said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) -led state government should remove the statues of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo from Lucknow and Noida within 72 hours.

The leaders said they would remove the statue if the government failed to do it.

"Either the Samajwadi Party government will remove all Mayawati statues within 72 hours from Lucknow and Noida, or we will do it ourselves," said a Sena spokesperson.