Daijiworld Media Network – Moodbidri (MS)
Moodbidri, Jul 28: Santhosh Das alias Ghanshyam, main accused in the multi crore idol theft case that occurred at the The Guru Basadi, also called the Siddhanta Mandira, here on July 5, 2013, is released from prison.
Ancient idols were stolen from the Siddantha Mandir. It had become international news. Later, police arrested Santhosh Das, his wife Deepti Mahi Patnaik and his father-in-law, gold merchant Rajaji Sancheti at Chhattisgarh.
It was unearthed during police investigation that the accused were involved in many theft cases all across the country. Though Santhosh Das was granted bail in other cases, in the Siddantha Mandir case, he was in prison as he did not get bail.
Moodbidri court has taken out a body warrant against Das as he did not get bail in other cases. However, as Das got bail in all cases, the Moodbidri court withdrew the body warrant. So Santhosh Das is finally released from prison as per the information provided by his counsel Nagesh Shetty.
Police traced that Santhosh Das had 44 cases of theft against him all over India. In addition, the idols that were stolen from the Mandir here are valued very high in the international market. During the interrogation, the police came to know that the idols were sold to Rs 2400 crore in overseas countries.