150-Year-Old Idol Stolen From Jharkhand Temple Recovered, Accused Arrested

Medininagar, Jharkhand:

 A precious idol that was stolen from a 150-year-old temple in Jharkhand’s Palamu district was recovered from Garwah district on Monday after the prime accused in the case was arrested from Delhi, police said.

The idol of Lord Laddu Gopal, made of ‘ashtadhatu’, and silver crowns of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi were stolen from the famed temple, located on the bank of the Koel river in Medininagar, on the night of September 11, they said.

A case was registered based on the statement of the priest, Sunil Kumar Choubey, of the temple, they added.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to investigate the case, said Superintendent of Police Reeshma Ramesan.

The entire theft was caught on CCTV cameras. In the footage, a man was seen stealing the idol and the crowns from the temple, she said.

Acting on a tip-off, the main accused, Dilkash Roshan (30), was arrested from Delhi’s Govindpuri area on Sunday with the help of officers of the Delhi Police, the SP said.

Based on the information provided by Roshan, police recovered the idol, which was buried beside the main gate of a dental college in Garwah, she said.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Surjeet Kumar said two persons were arrested a fortnight ago in connection with the case after the stolen crowns were seized.

Among the two arrested was Md Sohail, an accomplice of Roshan, and a jeweller in Bihar’s Sasaram, Upendra Kumar Seth. Sohail and Roshan had sold the crowns to the jeweller.

Roshan had committed the theft while Sohail was waiting outside on a bike, police said.

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