Bhubaneswar: The miniature idols made of precious metals stolen from the Jain shrine in Moodbidri, was found by the Karnataka police in Bhubaneswar,Odisha on Saturday.
They also have recovered 1.5 kg of gold ingots, gem stones and Rs 2 lakh in cash from a house at Chandrashekharpur here, as the the sources. The total value of the recovery is said to be Rs Three crore.
They said “We have seized three idols and some gold ingots. The gold ingots were made after melting some idols,”.
The Bhubaneswar commissionerate of police helped its Mangalore police in this case and in recovering the stolen items from the house of the father-in-law of Santosh Das, alias Ghanshyam Das, works as a peon in the State secretariat and has been absconding.
The father-in-law of Das has found guilty in this case since he has helped indirectly in this crime , by keeping the stolen items at his place,as said by one of team member of the Karnataka police.
The police of both states did not disclose about how they came to know about Das involvement in the theft.
The shrines CCTV camera had recorded a masked man in a black jacket entering the premises.
At least 15 idols made of gold and encrusted with pearls, precious stones and diamonds were stolen on July 5th from Siddantha Mandir of Guru Basadi in Moodabidri, also known as “Jain Kashi”.