Moodbidri, Jul 28: The prime accused in the Moodbidri Basadi statue theft case, which has been billed as the biggest temple theft in the State, has been nabbed by the police, from Bhuvaneshwar in Odisha. The arrested is Ghanshyam alias Santhosh Das.
There are all possibilities of Das being brought to Mangalore on Sunday evening.
A special team was constituted to nab Das, who was the kingpin of the perfect robbery involving valuable statues from historic place of worship.
Tracing the case, Mangalore police reached Odisha. The police learnt that the valuable antique commodities stolen from Moodabidri Siddantha Darshana Mandir was stocked in a house in Bhuvaneshwar.
The cops successfully recovered the antique valuables from Das's uncle's house.
During the raid, the police also seized 1.5 kg gold, Rs 2 lac in cash and three idols. It was found that some idols were already melted and the culprits and stocked the gold from the idols in the form of biscuits.
The robbers had stolen 15 antique idols out of 52 idols from the said Basadi.
Golden idols of Chandranatha, Pancha Parameshti, Parshwanatha, emerald studded idol of Parshwanatha, 'Gajamuthina Chandraprabha', gold rings, small idol of Mahaveera, ruby studded idol of 'Vasupujya', sapphire studded idol of 'Arihantha', Munisuvaratha and Neminatha , idol of Bahubali with pearl arc, crystal idol of Arhanatha Swamy, sapphire idol of Mallinatha Swami, Crystal idol of Manusuvaratha Swami and diamond studded Chandraprabha idols were stolen by the gang.
Since all the idols were antique, the value of the same was estimated around Rs 100 cr.
The stolen idols also included a rare idols of Bahubali in seating position. It is said that there is no other idol of this kind anywhere in the world.
People belonging to Jain community only could even have a look at this idol. Clicking pictures of this idol too was prohibited.
The gang which executed the theft had used gas cutter to gain entry into the Basadi. Before the theft, the gang has disconnected the connection of 8 CCTV cameras installed in the Basadi. Though a siren was installed in the Basadi, when the gang gained entry, the siren too did not ring. This suggests that the gang had planned the theft strategically.
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