AURANGABAD: An act of defacing ‘Love Aurangabad’ signboard by an inebriated man has resulted in the Aurangabad police deploying heavy bandobast near all such signboards in the city.
On Tuesday morning, police swung into action and registered an offence before arresting the suspect identified as Vishnu Kale (34), a worker by profession and resident of the Tofkhana area of the city. Commissioner of police Nikhil Gupta said, “The man was in inebriated form and he had a spat with the Cantonment Board’s security guard during which he damaged the board.”
Appealing citizens to abstain from falling prey to any rumours, Gupta warned of strict action against anyone trying to disrupt peace and harmony of the city by any direct or indirect act, including social media posts.
Preliminary investigation revealed that it was Vishnu’s birthday and he was upset about his wife not spending the day with him. “The man carrying liquor bottle went to the garden in the Cantonment area and started consuming it. After security guard there shooed him away, Vishnu further got upset and damaged the signboard,” said deputy commissioner of police (zone-I) Nikesh Khatmode-Patil.
Renaming the city has remained a hotly-contested issue during each of the local body to general elections for the past three decades. However, it could not materialize after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of retaining city’s name as Aurangabad. Fears of the issue once again getting raked up ahead of the civic body elections came true after the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Ltd (ASCDCL), as a part of its beautification drive in the city, inadvertently installed different signboards with the names of ‘Love Aurangabad’, ‘Love Khadki’, Love Pratishthan, Super Sambhajinagar in parts of the city and publicized them as selfie points.