A statue of social reformer EV Ramaswamy, or Periyar, in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai district was found damaged on Tuesday morning, according to local reports. This is the latest act of vandalism in a spate of similar attacks across the country on statues of Lenin, Periyar, BR Ambedkar, Gandhi and Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

Photographs show the statue’s head detached from the body. As the area in Alangudi town was not under CCTV surveillance, the miscreants are yet to be identified, the police said.

A police officer from Alangudi told The News Minute that the incident must have taken place either late on Monday or early Tuesday. “The police got information about it around 6.15 am on Tuesday, after a resident called the deputy commissioner’s office,” the officer said.