A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was defaced at Bapu Bhawan in Laxmanbagh Sansthan in Madhya Pradesh on Gandhi Jayanti by unidentified persons who wrote "deshdrohi" (traitor) over it and also stole an urn which was used for immersing his ashes, police said on Thursday.
The incident happened on Wednesday when the country was celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.
A case has been filed in the matter on a complaint by Rewa city Congress chief Gurmeet Singh Mangu.
"The matter was brought to our notice by those managing Laxmanbagh Sansthan. We found that the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was defaced and someone had written 'deshdrohi' over it," said Rewa Superintendent of Police Abid Khan.
In the complaint, Mangu had alleged that the stolen urn contained the ashes of Gandhi, but Khan said the police were not sure about it. "We are not probing it," he said.
A case under sections 153(B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC was registered in this regard, the SP said.
