As the world celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on 2 October, an urn containing his ashes went missing from the city of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh state.
The thieves also wrote “Rashtra Drohi” (traitor) on the pictures of Gandhi that were placed on a hoarding-like structure inside a museum named “Bapu Bhawan”.
The word “Bapu” – that is fondly used to address Gandhi, translates to the word “father” in Hindi language.
Outraged by the incident, netizens took to social networking platforms to express their anger.
Officials of Bapu Bhawan described the theft and disfigurement of the image as "shameful".
According to media reports, a case has been registered under Sections against the unidentified people under the relevant law.
As of now, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at a memorial located in Ahmedabad city in Gujarat, has not commented on the incident.
Gandhi led India’s freedom struggle by theorizing and implementing the practice of "non-violence”.
Even though he is revered by many Indians, some groups of Hindu ultranationalists criticize his position as "yielding" to Muslims and agreeing to the division of the country into India and Pakistan in 1947.
In 1948, Mahatma was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a hardcore Hindu activist.
After Gandhi's assassination, his remains were cremated according to Hindu tradition, but the ashes of his remains were divided and transported to various memorials, including the one desecrated in Madhya Pradesh.