Inter-state idol theft racket busted, 2 held

CUTTACK: The district rural police has busted an inter-state idol theft racket and arrested two persons in this connection. They have been identified as Suresh Yadav (50) of Etah in UP and Dhusasan Sahoo (43) of Tampa under Nimapara police limits.Police also recovered an ancient Buddha idol which was stolen from Fakirpatana village under Nischintakoili police limits on July 7. The 3.5 ft high and 13 ft wide exquisite idol of Lord Buddha made of black polished granite weighing about 2.5 quintal was worshipped as Dharma Niranjan Dev by the locals at the village temple since time immemorial. 

Speaking to mediapersons, Cuttack SP (Rural) Madhab Chandra Sahoo said after loot of the rare idol, police analysed the Call Details Records (CDR) and detected incoming phone calls from Uttar Pradesh through two mobile numbers. Basing on the information obtained from the CDR verification, a special team headed by Salepur SDPO PK Jena and Nischintakoili IIC PK Behera raided several places to nab the culprit and seized a car which was used for transportation of idol from Suresh’s possession on August 10.

Later, acting on the confessional statement of Suresh, the special team arrested Sahoo who provided all information about the idol. Sahoo was working at a lock factory at Aligarh in New Delhi and used to provide information about ancient idols in different parts of Odisha. Other members of the gang are Jitendra Pal Yadav (30) and Sachin Yadav (22) of Etah, Mohammad Bhogal (40) of Mathura. They used to steal ancient idols from Odisha and sell those in China, Japan, Thailand and Korea, the SP said. 
The criminals had valued the idol at around `12 lakh and were also mulling to smuggle it abroad at around `80 lakh. 

Acting on a tip-off, police recovered the stolen idol which was kept in an abandoned house at Machhi Mundi and brought it to Odisha on September 25.The recovered idol has been handed over to the villagers and effort is on to nab five other accused involved in the theft case, the SP informed.