Puri Police Recovers 10 Stolen Ancient ‘Astadhatu’ Idols, One Held

The Puri police on Tuesday claimed success in recovering 10 Astadhatu idols which had been stolen from various temples in the past. The stolen idols were seized from the possession of one Prafula Mishra who was allegedly trying to sell those.

Senior police officials said that three separate teams headed by the Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of an equal number of police stations- Kanas, Chandanpur and Satyabadi-- from where series of theft in temples were reported in the recent past, had been formed to trace the missing idols.

The accused, Prafula, was nabbed while he was trying to dispose of the Astadhatu idols. However, during scrutiny, it has been ascertained that the idols recovered from his possession are not the same which were stolen from several temples at Sundargaon and Jagannathpur areas in the district.

Additional SP Purnachandra Pradhan said that involvement of a racket having some international links is suspected to be behind the theft and smuggling of antique idols.

“We are trying to find out from where and which temples were these idols stolen as it is suspected that the recovered ones were lifted from temples in 2019,” said Pradhan.