Hunt on to nab Jain idols' thief in Karnataka

Police intensified search for an unidentified thief who stole 15 idols, some of gold and studded with diamonds and precious gems, from a Jain shrine near here last week on leads from five days of investigations, a police official said Thursday.

"We have stepped up our search for the culprit within the state and outside on the basis of clues from the CCTV footage in the shrine and information shared by its monks with us. We hope to crack the case soon," Mangalore police commissioner Manish Karbikar told IANS here.

The priceless idols, including eight dating back to third-to-fifth century BC and five cast in gold a century ago were stolen early Saturday from the famous over 800-year-old Siddantha Pratima Darshana Basadi at Moodbidri, about 40km from here.

"We have registered a case July 6 after the mutt's head monk lodged a complaint about the missing idols and submitted camera footage, which recorded one man entering the shrine after midnight and leaving two-three hours later," Karbikar said.

As the thief covered his face with a cloth, police have been unable to identify or trace him in the absence of other details though he left behind a newspaper, a bag, and a gas cutter that may have been used to drill a hole in the door of the safe room behind the shrine where the antiques were kept.

The thief also covered the camera before committing the crime to avoid detection.

"We have formed five special teams to investigate the case and made progress on leads gathered. We can't share more details to ensure the investigation is not hampered. A couple of teams are on hunt outside the state to trap the culprit," Karbikar said.

The theft came to light when the mutt manager Uday Kumar opened the doors at 5 a.m. and found the idols missing in the room.

"Unfortunately, the alarm in the shrine did not go off at that time when the theft occurred and the staff sleeping in the adjacent shrine also did not hear any sound," shrine's head pontiff Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swami told IANS.

"It is sad and shocking as we never thought such an incident would happen in this ancient temple, which has been safe and secure over the centuries. We hope police would be able to trace the culprit and recover the idols as they are our gods and priceless," the pontiff said.

Of the eight ancient idols, one was studded with diamonds and the remaining seven with gems, pearls and other precious stones.

"It is difficult to put any value on them. We are attached to them religiously and are our pious objects to worship. We didn't insure them as they were not displayed in public daily except on special occasions such as on Mahavir Jayanti," the pontiff said.