A controversy has erupted over the burial place of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon in Mumbai, with the ruling BJP claiming the grave was “beautified” and attempts made to turn it into a shrine of sorts.

Mumbai police on Thursday removed the LED lights put around the grave of the terror convict who was hanged at Nagpur jail in 2015 and buried at the Bada Qabrastan in south Mumbai.

A DCP-level police officer will probe how the LED lights and marble tiles came to “adorn” the grave, an official said.

While some Maharashtra BJP leaders claimed the grave was converted into a tomb while Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister, the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena said the whole issue was an attempt to divert people’s attention from more important matters such as inflation and unemployment.

State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said Thackeray should apologise to the people of Mumbai and Maharashtra for this “beautification” attempt of the grave of a person responsible for killing 250 people.

Another local BJP leader said NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should also apologise. The NCP and the Congress were part of the previous coalition government along with the Shiv Sena.

A police officer said halogen lights were installed in the Bada Qabrastan on the occasion of Badi Raat (Shab-e-Barat) and had been removed by the graveyard’s trustees.

The marble tiles around Memon’s grave were put up three years ago, he said. There are 13 other graves at the place, the officer added.