Special delivery: Mangalore police get 12 stolen Basadi idols by Speed Post!
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
Updated
Mangalore, Nov 6: In a strange development, 12 of the idols stolen from Moodbidri Basadi have reached Mangalore police commissionerate office as a special parcel, reportedly from Raipur in Chhattisgarh!
The idols were stolen from Siddantha Mandir, Sri Guru Basadi, Moodbidri on July 6.
Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday November 6, police commissioner Manish Karbikar said that the idols are tiny and weighed 750 grams.
The idols were sent by Speed Post on November 2 and reached the police commissionerate office on Tuesday November 4, he said.
He declined to give the address where exactly it came from, saying that the address may be false and police are investigating the same. He, however added that the cost of the courier was Rs 130.
"We have never received a parcel like this before," he added.
Among the 12 idols in the parcel, one was broken, he said.
Incidentally, the total number of idols recovered in the case are now more than the number mentioned in the FIR. The FIR had mentioned that 15 idols had been stolen from the Basadi, but now recovered idols number 20. The police had previously recovered eight idols, five of which were in melted gold form weighing 1.22 kg, and Rs 2.05 lac in cash from the house of the father-in-law of Santosh alias Ghanshyam Das in Orissa, Karbikar said.
Bhattaraka Shree of Moodbidri Jain Math on Tuesday November 5 inspected the idols and confirmed that they belonged to Siddantha Mandir.
Bhattaraka Shree confirmed the same to police commissioner Manish Karbikar, investigating officer SP Ravi Kumar, Moodbidri inspector Anantha Padmanab and to PSI Ramesh Kumar.
Idols of Chandraprabha Swami of Diamond, Munisuvratha Swami made of crystalline, Kacchapanna Arahanta Parameshti, Munisuvratha made out of Lapis, Arahanta of Lapis, Arhanatha made out of crystalline gem, Chandraprabha Swami, Paswnatha, Mallinatha Siddaparameshti, broken pieces of idols, and other valuables are under police custody.
Three idols were earlier recovered by the police during the investigation. They had received information that five idols made out of gold were melted. However, souces later said that the gold was not melted but fake gold was produced in place of the real, while the original idols were sold off in Bangkok for a hefty price.