2 cops hurt as Maha villagers pelt stones over statue shifting

Two policemen were injured onTuesday in stone pelting by irate villagers opposed to theshifting of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj inMaharashtra's Jalgaon district, over 400 kilometres from here,an official said.

The two-foot tall statue was installed in a publicplace in Nimkhedi in the district's Muktainagar area withoutpermission on Monday night, and requests from the localadministration to shift it were met with resistance from asection of the villagers, he said.

''When a team of the local administration and policearrived at the spot today and was trying to shift the statue,some villagers pelted stones, leaving two policemen injured,''he added.

A posse of police has been deployed in the area tomaintain law and order, he said, adding that the process ofregistering an offence over the incident was underway.