A statue of India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was found desecrated in Shertha village of Gujarat's Gandhinagar district.
According to police, some unidentified persons last night garlanded the statue with empty cold drink bottles and grass.
The statue was unveiled by BJP patriarch L K Advani in October, 1992.
The incident came to light after some villagers spotted the garland placed on the statue and approached police, said Adalaj police inspector J G Vaghela.
"We have initiated investigation into the matter and sought CCTV footage from around the area to identify the persons involved in this case. We are also in the process of registering an FIR," he said.
The villagers later removed the garland from the statue.
Two jawans of Home Guard and a police constable are stationed near the statue, Vaghela added.
The statue of E V Ramasamy, also known as 'Periyar', was found decapitated in Viduthi village of Tamil Nadu on March 19. Desecration of Periyar statues was also reported from Vellore and Pudukottai districts of the southern state.
In Tripura, a statue of communist icon Lenin was pulled down by some people with an excavator machine on March 6. Similarly, statues of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Dalit icon B R Ambedkar were also vandalised in Kolkata and Meerut, respectively.
