The Gujarat Police registered a case against an unknown person for selling the Statue of Unity by placing it on an online advertisement platform - OLX. The advertisement was placed for Rs 30,000 crore.
According to the ad placed, the Statue of Unity was being sold to meet the Gujarat government's expenses for hospitals and medical infrastructure to fight the coronavirus outbreak in the state. The memorial to Sardar Patel, at 182 metres, is the world's tallest such structure and has attracted several lakh people since it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
"Some unknown person placed an advertisement on OLX on Saturday stating he needs to sell the Statue of Unity for Rs 30,000 crore to meet the requirement of money to buy hospitals and healthcare equipment," a Kevadiya police station official said quoting the FIR.
Cheating and forgery case was registered
"The memorial's authorities came to know of the issue after a newspaper ran an article, and approached the police. A cheating and forgery case was registered under IPC, Epidemic Diseases Act and Information Technology Act," Inspector PT Chaudhary said.
Soon after it was posted, the advertisement was taken off the website."Despite him not being authorised to sell government property, this unidentified person posted the advertisement on OLX to defame the government and mislead people," stated a release from the chief administrator of the Statue of Unity. Such an advertisement hurts the sentiments of the several crore people who idolise Sardar Patel, it added.
