Sculptor, two Nirmiti Kendra officials charged in Parashurama Theme Park case

The Karkala Town police have filed a charge sheet accusing sculptor Krishna Naika, Udupi District Nirmiti Kendra Project Director Arun Kumar and Nirmiti Kendra Engineer Sachin Y. Kumar in connection with sculpting the Parashurama idol for Parashurama Theme Park at Ummikal Betta, near Karkala, in Udupi district.

The police filed a 1,231-page charge sheet against the three persons, charging them with offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) before the Senior Civil Judge and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Karkala on Monday.

A complaint was filed on June 21, 2024, by Krishna Shetty, stating that Mr. Naika of Krish Art World received funds from Nirmiti Kendra for carving a Parashurama idol and installing it at the theme park. Instead of making a bronze idol, Naika created a fake idol and deceived the government, he alleged.

In a statement, the police said that, based on the investigation and expert opinion, it was revealed that Naika had indeed used brass instead of bronze to make the statue.

Mr. Arun and Mr. Sachin did not adhere to the terms and conditions specified in the work order issued to sculpt the statue. On October 12, 2023, the upper part of the Parashurama idol, from the waist up, was taken from Ummikal Betta and stored in the shed belonging to the Nirmiti Kendra in Pragati Nagar, Alevoor village, Udupi Taluk, till February 25, 2024. That portion of the idol was handed over to the sculptor who falsely claimed that it was transported to Bengaluru, the police stated.

It is worth mentioning that the then Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, inaugurated the theme park on January 27, 2023. He unveiled the 33-foot statue of Parashurama, which is part of the ₹10 crore project. The theme park has an amphitheatre with a seating capacity of 1,000, a bhajan mandir, an art gallery, and a film studio.

The Congress workers had alleged corruption in the project and said the statue was not fully made of bronze.

Police had arrested the sculptor in Kerala on November 11, 2024, and produced him before a Karkala court. Later, he was released on bail.

MLA reacts

Reacting to the development, Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar, also a former Minister, said on Tuesday that for a long time, he had been speaking about lapses in the carving of the statue and had asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order an inquiry.

Instead, as part of a larger conspiracy against BJP leaders, the Congress government falsely campaigned for two years that the statue was made of fibreglass, rather than bronze. The government should now focus on developing the theme park as a tourism destination. If the government fails to provide funds for the park, he will be forced to beg the public for funds for the park development, Mr. Kumar stated.