A viral video on social media shows a teenage boy in Telangana lighting a firecracker inside the mouth of a Mahatma Gandhi statue. The footage begins with a close-up of the golden bust of Gandhi, with the firecracker placed between the statue’s lips. A young boy then appears in the frame, ignites the firecracker, and quickly moves back. His friend, who is recording, also retreats but continues filming as the firecracker detonates inside the statue’s mouth. The video does not clearly show whether the explosion caused any damage to the statue.
A Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) member shared the video on X, tagging IPS officer CV Anand and urging him to take action. “Request @CVAnandIPS garu to kindly take suo motu action on this indecent act with Gandhi ji’s statue in Bowenpally Police Station Limits, Cantonment. It has become a fashion to insult the Father of this Nation,” he wrote in his post.
Social media users, enraged by the incident, called for strict action against those responsible. One user commented, “This is very shocking and disgraceful conduct. Hope the authorities will look into this and take action against the culprits,” tagging Telangana’s Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Hyderabad police. Another user urged authorities to “kindly take action against the culprits and arrest them through CCTV.”
Reports indicate that the police became aware of the video, which had been shared by the teens on Snapchat and other platforms. Four teens, including two minors, have since been detained by the police. According to officials, the teenagers are residents of Bapuji Nagar, where the incident took place. The police believe they staged the act to make the video go viral, and further investigation is underway.
