Karkala: Moodbidri idol theft accused Santosh Das sent to police custody
R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (EP)
Karkala, Sep 4: Karkala court on Wednesday September 4 sent Ghanshyam Das alias Santosh, an inter-state thief accused in the Moodbidri Basadi theft case, to police custody till September 10. He is also an accused in another jewellery store theft case that took place in Karkala.
Das, who hails from Odisha, was arrested for allegedly stealing ancient idols worth crores from Moodbidri Siddantha Mandira. He was arrested in Andhra Pradesh in joint operation by Mangalore police and their counterparts in Andhra. Before his arrest, his wife and father-in-law were arrested for hiding information about his whereabouts and brought to Mangalore. Several idols and valuables were also recovered from their house.
Das is also an accused in the jewellery theft that had occurred in Ganga gold jewellery shop near Pratibha Nursing home on the main road on June 26. The value of stolen jewellery is valued at Rs 80,000 as per a police complaint by Subhash Thingale, owner of the shop.
Police had suspected that the group involved in the theft at Moodbidri Siddantha Mandira was involved in the jewellery theft too as the two thefts looked similar. Their suspicion was proved true after the arrest of Santhosh Das.
Sources earlier revealed that the stolen idols have already been smuggled out of the country and sold in Bangkok for Rs 2,400 crore. It is said that a few influential politicians have been trying to get the Karnataka government to close the case. Subhash Sancheti, a jeweller in Chattisgarh was also arrested for reportedly buying the stolen items.
A few days back, union minister Dr Veerappa Moily had met chief minister Siddaramaiah to urge for a CBI enquiry into the case, as it spans four states - Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra and Chhattisgarh. Also, it is alleged that Mangalore police are not getting sufficient cooperation from other state governments concerned. The All India Digambar Jain Samaj too has been calling for CBI probe and also urging for Interpol's help.