Washington: Horrible!, Unknown miscreants have vandalized, broken and ripped from the base a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a park in the US state of California, shocking and outraging Indian-Americans across the country, who have demanded that the officials investigate it as an incident of hate crime.

The vandalized statue of Mahatma Gandhi was found by a park employee in the early hours of morning of January 27, the police said. The statue is being removed and will be stored in a safe place until it can be evaluated, said Davis City councilman Lucas Frerichs.

The Six-feet tall, 294 kg bronze statue of Gandhi, in the Central Park of the City of Davis in Northern California, appeared to have been cut with a saw at the ankles and half its face was severed and missing, local Davis Enterprise daily reported.

Investigators are still unsure of when exactly the statue was torn down or what the motive may have been, The Sacramento Bee reported. Seeing as it's a cultural icon to a portion of the people in Davis, we are taking it very seriously, Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Department was quoted as saying by the daily.

The statue of Gandhi, which was donated by the Indian government to the city of Davis, was installed by the city council four years ago amidst protests from anti-Gandhi and anti-India organizations.

Indian-Americans have expressed deep anguish and shock at the incident.

Portuguese parliament approves mercy killing

Japan Governors discuss of extending emergency, Covid 19

China's Hualong one nuclear reactor begins operations