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Three Gujarat Men Arrested in Karnataka Temple Silver Idol Theft

Three Gujarat Men Arrested in Karnataka Temple Silver Idol Theft
Three men from Gujarat held in connection with theft of silver idol in K’taka temple · theprint.in

Some thieves stole a very big silver statue from a temple in India.

The statue weighed 32 kilograms, about as much as a heavy suitcase.

Three men from a state called Gujarat are accused of the theft.

Before stealing it, they visited the temple once and looked around carefully.

They saw that the statue was not fixed to the floor, so it could be picked up easily.

One night, after everyone at the temple went to sleep, they took the statue away.

A few days later, they cut it into four pieces and melted the silver down.

Police worked for more than a month to catch them and stayed in a city called Ahmedabad for about fifteen days.

They recovered around 23 kilograms of solid silver and 4 more kilograms that had been cut into pieces.

One of the thieves had already been in trouble with police in other states before.

Key facts

Stolen item
32-kg silver idol of Sri Pavada Basaveshwara
Idol value
Approximately Rs 51.20 lakh
Date of theft
Night of July 5-6
Location
Basarakod village, Muddebihal taluk, Vijayapura district, Karnataka
Accused
Suresh Kumar (51), Brahmar (35), Indrajeet (33)
Accused origin
Gujarat
Recovered silver
About 23 kg of solid silver plus 4 kg of cut pieces
Prior record of prime accused
Five criminal cases in Gujarat and Rajasthan; first case in Karnataka

Quotes

Superintendent of Police Laxman B Nimbargi

Police officer leading the Vijayapura investigation

““On the night of the offence, after everyone at the temple had gone to sleep, they removed the idol. The offence took place on the night of the July 5 and 6 and by July 8, they had cut the idol into four pieces, melted it, and disposed of it.””
theprint.in

Sources

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