The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has suspended two of its officials and issued notices to others in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district over the removal of former Union minister Madhavrao Scindia’s statue in an “unacceptable manner”, officials said Saturday.

A video of the statue being moved using an earthmoving machine with a noose tied around the structure’s neck has also surfaced on social media.

According to officials, the Katni bypass of National Highway-30 is being expanded as a four-lane road. During the construction of the stretch, the statue of Madhavrao Scindia, already installed at the Chaka bypass, was to be shifted by the administration after identifying another place for it. However, the construction agency removed the statue in an unacceptable manner on Saturday with the help of an earthmoving machine.

Madhavrao Scindia was the father of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the ruling BJP in 2020.

Construction agency chief engineer Manoj Verma, engineer Ashish Singh Parihar, National Highways Authority of India engineer Rajesh Kumar Nema and assistant bridge engineer Deepak Soni were found guilty and suspended over the incident.

The action was taken after the matter was brought to the notice of BJP MP VD Sharma, who expressed strong displeasure over the removal of the statue, saying it was an insult to the former political leader.

“This kind of insensitivity towards the statue of a great man who contributed to nation building and welfare of society is unacceptable,” said VD Sharma. He directed the Collector and NHAI officials to shift the statue to another place with honor.

Following the MLA’s instructions, the NHAI swung into action and suspended the engineers with immediate effect. For now, the statue has been moved to a nearby location.

“In this case, the responsible officers of the authority have also been directed to file a reply within three days by issuing a show-cause notice on negligence of work,” NHAI said.

(with inputs from PTI)