COIMBATORE: A bust of rationalist leader ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy was found smeared with cow dung in Vadachithur village near Coimbatore on Wednesday.

A group of villagers from the Samathuvapuram, who turned up in the early morning to garland the statue were shocked to see Periyar’s bust kept inside a grill enclosure smeared with cow dung.

As the news spread out, more villagers gathered and shouted slogans demanding the arrest of culprits. On receiving information, the Negamam police arrived and washed off the cow dung from the statue.

As there are no CCTV’s in the locality, police are clueless over the culprits, who were suspected of defacing the statue at night. Police have been deployed in the locality to prevent any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, members of various political parties paid their respects by garlanding the statue and sought speedy arrest of culprits.