Ancient idol stolen; Home Minister calls up Nitish

A precious 2,600-year-old idol of Lord Mahavir was stolen from a Jain temple in Jamui following which Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called up Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to enquire about the progress of the investigations.
The ancient idol of Lord Mahavir, weighing 250 kg and worth several crores, was stolen from a Jain temple near Lachuar village in Bihar's Jamui district on Friday night.
The black stone statue at the temple, which is under the protection of Archaeological Survey of India, had no police security, official sources said.
In a telephonic conversation with Kumar yesterday, Singh enquired about the incident, the sources said.

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Meanwhile, Director General of Police P K Thakur said

in Patna that a probe is on by various security agencies of Bihar to recover the stolen idol of Lord Mahavira.
He said the police department have deployed special teams of Economic Offence Wing, CID and STF on the task, even as the IG (Bhagalpur Zone) was camping on the spot.
"As of now, we can only say a concerted probe is on in the matter," Thakur said and expressed inability to give a time-frame during which the case could be solved.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday directed the DGP to order a high-level probe into the theft after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had rang him up to enquire about the matter.