Moodbidri Basadi theft: Murky details emerge, idols sold in Bangkok for Rs 2,400 crore?
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Aug 10: The Moodbidri idol theft case seems to be taking a new turn, with sources claiming that the idols that were found to be melted were not the actual stolen idols, but just plain gold produced to the police by the accused in place of the real idols.
Sources from Chhattisgarh, from where jeweller Subhash Sancheti was arrested for buying the idols, say that the real idols have been hidden away for international smuggling. It had been earlier reported that some of the ancient idols had been melted.
Santosh Das and Subhash Sancheti
In fact, latest reports reaching daijiworld state the idols have already been smuggled and sold in Bangkok for a whopping Rs 2,400 crore.
The prime accused, Ghanshyam Das alias Santosh had sold the idols to Sancheti and Anoopchand Trilokchand (AT Group) jewellers. The AT Group has three partners - Trilokchand, Shantilal and Ashok Badediya. Sources claim that Ashok and Sancheti are the actual masterminds of the theft, and not Santosh Das as believed. Incidentally, Sancheti happens to be the brother-in-law of Ashok.
Gajendra Jain, regional president of Akhil Bharatiya Digambar Jain Samaj in Chhatisgarh, has claimed that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the case, and there is political pressure on the Karnataka government to close the case. He has also alleged that the authorities in Chhatisgarh have not been willing to cooperate with the Karnataka police, which has hampered investigation.
It is believed that Sancheti had visited Karnataka around five to six times in the recent months, and the fact that Santosh Das had earlier stayed in Durg, from where Sancheti was arrested, further strengthen the conspiracy theory, said Gajendra Jain.
Also, Motilal Vora, a top Congress politician and Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh has reportedly got in touch with the Karnataka chief minister urging him to free the accused and close the case. Meanwhile, a delegation of Akhil Bharatiya Digambar Jain Samaj led by president Nirmalkumar Sethi met Vora and gave a memorandum stating that the accused must be given stringent punishment.
Gajendra Jain has said that the accused Santosh Das who has been caught by the police was previously known to Sancheti and both of them had planned the theft, but that there is a bigger and more powerful hand behind the case. "Sancheti is projected as the main buyer of the idols, but I suspect that there is more to it than what meets the eye," said Jain.
He called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the matter, which he said was the only way to unearth the truth. As the case spans four states - Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it would be ideal that CBI probe is ordered into it.
The Jain committee has also requested union minister Dr M Veerappa Moily and home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to seek the help of Interpol, as the idols have been sold in Bangkok. They also requested for a CBI probe.
The Jain community is said to be miffed with Sri Charukeerthi Bhattarakha Swamiji, the head of Moodbidri Jain Math for going abroad while the theft had taken place here. The community leaders have stated that he should make the accounts of the Math public as it receives charity from public.