An eight-foot tall cement statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which stood on the banks of the Gonda river, was discovered badly damaged and lying prostrate on Sunday morning.

The statue had been installed in an enclosure named Gandhi Smarak beside the river where the ashes of the Father of the Nation had been scattered in 1948.

Gandhi’s ashes had been scattered in various places across the nation, Gonda river being among them.

As the news spread, reactions came thick and fast. Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha of the BJP blamed the “change of guard in the state” for the shocking incident.

Hazaribagh MLA Manish Jaiswal, also of the same party, said all those behind this unfortunate incident should be identified and punished as soon as possible.

DC Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh said repair work had immediately started. “We have also lodged an FIR against unidentified persons,” he said, terming the vandalism a deeply unfortunate incident.

A police source said the vandals had managed to scale the walls and the grilles of the Gandhi Smarak, and break the locks to reach the statue.

A resident said Gandhi Smarak was located in such a place where both Hazaribagh railway station, which came up in 2015, and the Gonda river were close, and various gangs of youths lounged around, smoking weed (ganja) or drinking. “We had complained to the administration that these men were spoiling the ambience of the place but no one heard us,” a resident of Kud locality, near the Gandhi Smarak, said.

“The way the statue was broken shows the vandalism was planned,” another resident said.

“The place has been a hub of criminal elements for a long time. People seem to remember Gandhiji only on October 2 and January 30 (his birth and death anniversaries). I won’t be surprised if this turns out to be the handiwork of the land mafia who are eyeing plots near the railway station.”

An old-timer told The Telegraph that the statue came up in 2005 and had been vandalised then too, but not this badly. “Social workers and the administration repaired it and gave the Gandhi Smarak a new look. But after the railway station came up, the atmosphere of the place again got vitiated,” the elderly man said.