iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Douglaston resident, Sukhpal Singh, 27, was arrested in connection with the vandalism of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Queens, New York City, last month. Singh was later released without bail. He has been ordered by the court to return on October 17.
Singh has been charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime for allegedly using a sledgehammer to demolish the Gandhi statue located outside the Tulsi Mandir in Richmond Hill on August 16. Singh had also defaced the statue by spray painting it.
After the incident, Singh and four accomplices fled in two cars. Singh was identified through his vehicle’s registration number and arrested on September 17 while the police are now searching for his accomplices who can be seen in surveillance footage pushing over the statue and hitting it with a sledgehammer before fleeing in two cars.
The police are investigating the incident as one among a string of similar incidents. The same statue had been attacked on August 3.
The Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz condemned the incident. In a statement, Katz said that the defendant along with several others who remain at large allegedly carried out a disgraceful act of violence against a Mahatma Gandhi statue that represents a universal symbol of peace, and inclusivity. She said that the defendant has been apprehended and charged appropriately.
