NewsKarnataka-Moodbidri

Moodbidri : The Third Additional Civil Court in Mangalore has granted bail to Santosh Das alias Ghanashyam, the prime accused in the Siddantha Darshana Mandir theft case.

Valuable idols were stolen from the Siddantha Mandir of Guru Basadi of Moodbidri on July 5 last year. The police had arrested Das, his wife Deeptimayi Patnaik and father-in-law Digambar Mohanty in this connection. Excluding Das, the rest were released. Meanwhile, police had seized eight of the stolen idols while 12 other idols had reached the Commissioner’s office through Speed Post.

Nagesh Shetty D, advocate for the accused  who had moved the bail petition  said the police reports say twelve idols have been stolen while already 20 idols have been seized. As there are additional idols there are suspicion in this case. Though the accused had named a few others in the case the police have not initiated  action, he argued and sought  bail for his client.

Though the court has granted bail to Santosh Das  in the Basadi burglary case, he is still facing  charges in some other theft cases in the district. He has  however secured bail in the  case of thefts in Ganga Jewellery at Karkala and  Kodyadka Temple. It is learnt Santosh Das is also expecting bail in some other cases too. The Basadi theft case was heard in Mangalore court as the post of judge  in Moodbidri court is vacant as of now.