Thieves stole Mahatma Gandhi's remains on the 150th anniversary of his birth, police said. The ashes were stolen from a memorial center in India, where they had been kept since 1948 - when Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist.
The thieves also wrote "traitor" in green paint over a photo of India's pro-independence leader.
Some Hindus consider Gandhi, who was a dedicated Hindu, a traitor because of his advocacy of unity with Muslims.
The manager of the Bapu Bavan memorial center, where the ashes are kept, said that the theft was a "shameful" act.
"I opened the Bawan gate early in the morning because it was Gandhi's birthday," said Mangaldeep Tiwari. "When I returned around 11 o'clock in the evening, I saw that there were no remains and that the poster had been destroyed."
Gandhi led a nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India and inspired people around the world.
Most Indians still consider him the father of the nation. However, Hindu hardliners in India accuse Gandhi of betraying Hindus and blame him for the partition of India and the bloodshed that marked the creation of India and Pakistan after independence from Britain in 1947.
He was killed by a Hindu extremist in January 1948.
After his death, he was cremated, but his ashes were not scattered in the river in accordance with Hindu belief. The ashes have been preserved and are displayed in memorial centers across India.
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