Various media report that Maharashtra has been racked with protests over the desecration of a statue of Ambedkar on Wednesday in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh:

Thousands of low-caste Hindus have attacked police, vehicles and shops in Mumbai to protest against the desecration of a statue of their leader and author of India's democratic constitution.

Violence also flared in several towns across the western state of Maharashtra on Thursday.

Protesters said they were angry that a statue of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a low-caste Hindu who wrote India's constitution that prohibits caste discrimination, had been damaged on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh.

The Associated Press said three people were killed and 60 injured in the riots [Link].  

Who was the perpetrator? The police zeroed in on a Dalit named Arun Valmiki, but now another report says that Valmiki claims that he had been forced by the police to "confess."  This, in turn, triggered more protests:

The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a young dalit, who confessed having vandalised the statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Kanpur earlier this week, that triggered violent protests in Maharashtra.

The arrested man was identified as Arun Valmiki, a resident of Sarojini Nagar locality in the north Indian state's major industrial town.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Daljit Chaudhary told IANS Friday: 'Valmiki has confessed to damaging the Ambedkar statue Wednesday along with his two friends.'[Link]

Arun Valmiki, the man arrested for defacing Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur on Tuesday, has alleged that the police forced him to make a false confession.

"They forced me into it and told me if I did not accept the the desecration, they would force me to do so. They threatened to give me electric shocks," says Valmiki, after being released on Friday [Link].