A soldier, who a day ago had claimed he was assaulted by six people near his home in Kerala and ‘PFI’ was written on his back, was on Tuesday taken into custody along with his friend for allegedly giving a false statement about the incident, police said. A senior police officer of the district said no arrests have been recorded in the case so far and the statements of the soldier—Shine Kumar—and his friend were being recorded.

“Further action would be taken after verifying the contents of their statements,” the officer said. He also said that the soldier’s friend has claimed that Kumar wanted to become famous and that is why this entire act was carried out. The officer further said that the soldier was giving various reasons for making such a false statement and they have to be verified.  Police also recovered the green paint, brush and tape from the friend’s home.