NEW DELHI, INDIA—Local authorities have arrested an Indian man who allegedly vandalized his community on Thursday by going on a malicious, hours-long rampage of picking up trash, sweeping the sidewalks, scooping up poop, and attempting to improperly dispose of several historic piles of street garbage.
Rajiv Patel, 34, is currently being held without bail on felony charges of malicious beautification, grand theft refuse, and disturbing the natural ambiance.
According to police, Patel’s most serious offense occurred when he began sweeping a section of pavement that residents had relied on for years as a convenient place to dump trash.
“He was systematically destroying the character of the neighborhood,” said Police Chief Aarav Singh. “This man apparently believes every piece of trash has to be picked up just because it happens to be lying on the ground. That’s not how a civilized society works.”
Neighbors have heavily ostracized Patel’s family, who have been forced to dump several buckets of trash and raw sewage on their own front porch just to appease the angry mob and prove their loyalty to the community standard.
At publishing time, Patel was facing up to ten years in a maximum-security prison on charges of vandalism, unlawful beautification, destruction of public filth, and disturbing the natural order, though his sentence may be reduced if he agrees to community service, which consists of dumping 500 pounds of industrial plastic waste directly into the Ganges River.
