NEW DELHI- A statue of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, wasdefaced by an unidentified person in Kerala on Thursday morning.

According to Mathrubhoomi, the Mahatma Gandhi statue was damaged at talukoffice in Taliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala. The incident occurredat around 7 am on Thursday.

The report said that the unidentified miscreant broke the spectacles,damaged the garland and hurled stones on the statue. The police havelaunched an investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, news agency ANI reported that unidentified people poured painton the bust of Dr BR Ambedkar at Tiruvottiyur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

This comes a day after PM Modi strongly condemned such incidents and spoketo Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh over the issue.

“Incidents of toppling of statues have been reported from certain parts ofthe country. MHA has taken serious notes of such incidents of vandalism. PMalso spoke to Home Minister in this regard and has expressed his strongdisapproval of such incidents,” the Ministry of Home Affairs had said in astatement on Wednesday.

The MHA also asked the states to take all necessary measures to preventsuch incidents. “Persons indulging in such acts must be sternly dealt withand booked under relevant provisions of law,” the MHA said.