Bhagalpur, Sept. 16: Several rare antique idols have been stolen from various places in the district over the past several years but in most cases the police have not been able to nab anybody.

While some cases were closed because of lack of evidence, in some others there were discrepancies in the name of the accused.

On September 12, eight idols, which were several centuries old, were stolen from Mahashay Deori, the erstwhile oldest zamindar family. Officers at Nathnagar police station are clueless about the incident. Ardhendu Ghosh, a member of the Ghosh family which once enjoyed the special privilege of having jalkar jamindari (right over water) of river Ganga from Sultanganj to Pirpainty, said: “The idols were of very high value. My ancestors on the temple campus of Mahashay Deori had installed them more than 300 years ago. In the international markets these idols cost about Rs 1.5-Rs 2 crore each.”

“Many rare idols, including those of Radha Krishna (made of eight metals) from Sakullar Chowk temple under Babarganj police station in 2005, idol of Basupujja from Digambar Jain temple under Nathnagar police station in 2004, idols from Thakurbari under Kahalgaon police station in 2005, idols from Mahamadabad Thakurbari under Mozidpur police station in 2000 and idol of goddess Kali from Ajgaibinath temple at Sultanganj in 2006, have been stolen. None of these cases have been solved. In the international market, the prices of these idols are very high,” said Debasish Banerjee, a social worker at Nathnagar.

Senior superintendent of police Sanjay Singh was not available for comment but A.B. Khan, the station house officer of Nathnagar police station said prima-facie the police suspect the involvement of locals in the theft. He said, the police expect to expose the racket soon.

Sources said smugglers of idols have been targeting this region for long. Then Bhagalpur superintendent of police , G.S. Gangwar, who exposed the racket of antiquity smuggling on August 5, 2005, nabbed two persons for dealing with the smuggling of an old platinum idol in a hotel here.

A senior policeman admitted that rare idols, which were found here in large numbers, are usually smuggled to big metropolitan cities like Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai, from where they are smuggled to international markets.

Case study

Theft of a rare idol from a temple at Batagolly in Sujaganj in 2005. Result: Kotwali police closed the case in 2006 for lack of evidence

Idols of deities were stolen from Manas temple at Mondroja in the city and Bishari temple at Gola in 2006. Result: Tatarpur police station closed the case in 2007 for lack of evidence

Idol was stolen from Sani temple in 2007. Result: Tatarpur police station submitted a chargesheet against one Chintu Das whose name was not mentioned in the FIR of the case

Idols stolen from Buranath Temple in 2010. Result: The case is pending in a local court