07 October 2019 - Gandhi's ashes stolen from memorial site on 150th birthday
Gandhi's ashes stolen and photo defaced on 150th birthday
(BBC News, 03/10/2019)
Thieves stole some of Mahatma Gandhi's remains on what would have been his 150th birthday, police say.
The ashes were taken from a memorial in central India, where they had been kept since 1948 - the year of Gandhi's assassination by a Hindu extremist.
The thieves also scrawled "traitor" in green paint across photographs of the independence leader.
Did Vandals Steal Gandhi’s Ashes From an Indian Memorial?
Jeffrey Gettleman and Sameer Yasir (The New York Times, 04/10/2019)
He is the revered father of Indian independence, and it was what would have been his 150th birthday. And yet, on Wednesday, vandals attacked a memorial to Mohandas K. Gandhi, painted “traitor” in lurid green across his picture, and may have stolen some of his ashes.
Police officials in Rewa, in central India, site of the memorial, said they thought it was an inside job because there were no signs of a break-in and the thick green paint defacing Gandhi’s picture was being used by workmen at the memorial.
Gandhi shrine vandalised as parties fight over his legacy
Hugh Tomlinson, Saurabh Sharma (The Times, 04/10/2019)
Vandalism at a shrine to Mahatma Gandhi has cast a pall over celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. Indian police are investigating after “traitor” was sprayed in green paint over posters of the “Father of the Nation” in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
The incident has exposed the faultlines through Indian society as nationalists and liberals quarrel over the right to claim Gandhi.
Mangaldeep Tiwari, a caretaker at the Bapu Bhawan memorial, said that the incident was shameful. Reports that Gandhi’s ashes had been stolen were denied.
Mahatma Gandhi's portrait defaced in MP's Rewa
Pti Rewa (Deccan Herald, 04/10/2019)
A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was defaced at Bapu Bhawan in Laxmanbagh Sansthan here on Gandhi Jayanti by unidentified persons who wrote "deshdrohi" (traitor) over it and also stole an urn which was used for immersing his ashes, police said on Thursday.