Mangalore, Nov 6: In a surprising twist in one of the biggest temple heists in the state, a total of 12 antique idols that were stolen from Moodbidri Siddhanta Jain Basadi in July this year, arrived at the Mangalore City Police Commissioner's office through courier on Tuesday.
It is said that the parcel had been sent from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, though official sources are yet to confirm this.
The artefacts that arrived through courier have been verified by Jain seer of Moodabidri Bhattaraka Shree who confirmed that they were the same idols that were stolen from the Basadi on July 6, this year. The seer said that he verified the idols in presence of Police Commissioner Manish Kharbikar, investigating officer ACP Ravi Kumar, Moodbidri police inspector Ananth Padmanabha, PSI Ramesh Kumar and others.
Briefing mediapersons at a press conference here on Wednesday, Police Commissioner Manish Kharbikar said that the courier had arrived through speed post at his office here on Tuesday. “Weighing 750 grams, the courier included a'From' address, the verification of which is being looked into. However, there is no clue as to who might have sent it. Further investigation is being conducted in this regard,” he said.
Earlier, the Mangalore police had nabbed four accused in the case and recovered three idols in their original form and five golden idols which had been melted into gold bricks.
“With the recovery of 12 idols yesterday, the total recovery of the stolen artefacts in the heist is more than as mentioned in the FIR registered on July 6,” said Mr Kharbikar.
The recovered artefacts including'Chandraprabha Swamiji','Siddha Parameshti' made of crystal,'Munisuvratha Swamiji' made of crystal,'Khadgasana' made of crystal, emerald-studded'Arihantha Parameshti', blue sapphire-studded'Munisuvratha','Arihantha' and other statues made of crystal are in possession of the police.
Though the official announcement claims that the idols had reached the Commissioner's office in a parcel, the police officials are not keen on letting out more details in this regard. There is bound to be uncertainty over the veracity of the claim as several people claim that it is impossible to send precious artefacts through courier.
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