A special squad of the Commissionerate Police recovered gold, money and ancient Jain idols from the house of a looter’s relative at Sailashree Vihar in the city on Saturday. The idols of the 10th century are worth crores of rupees. They were stolen from a Jain shrine in Moodabidri near Mangalore in coastal Karnataka, said police.
After getting information from the Mangalore police, a special squad had finalised a plan to nab looter Ghanashyam Das alias Santosh from Itamati area in Nayagarh district. However, he was hiding somewhere in the city here.
On the basis of a confidential source, the special squad conduct raid on Das’s father-in-law’s house at Sailashree Vihar. The squad of the Commissionerate Police along with an inspector from Mangalore recovered three rare Jain idols, over 1kg gold and some other stolen articles from the house. The looter had melted the gold portions of the idols into bars fearing to get caught by the police, sources said.
“Accused Das is absconding and the police have launched a manhunt to nab the culprits,” said an investigating officer of the special squad. The Mangalore police would stay for a few days for an investigation in the case in the State, he added.
Notably, the burglary had taken place at around 1:10 am on July 6 by a few unidentified thieves who stole 15 idols, some gold studded with diamonds and precious gems from the Jain shrine in Mangalore.
The idols like Bahubali in a sitting position and a few others are said to be rare in the world. Many of the priceless idols were that of Jain Tirthankaras, the police said.