Bhubaneswar/Jajpur, May 30: Police is mulling to rope in Interpol to trace and get back the stolen antique idols from the Varahanatha temple complex.

A statue belonging to the 13th century was one among the six stolen idols. The rare statue was under the protected list of the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI).

At present, the crime branch sleuths are probing the theft from the historic temple complex in Jajpur town, but they are yet to make any breakthrough in the sensitive case.

On the morning of May 19, six statues from the Varahanatha temple complex were found missing. While the ASI protected minor shrine lost its Bali-Bamana statue, other two similar small temples lost five antique idols.

A highly placed source in the district police said: "The antique smuggling racket runs under an organised gang. So the cops are busy probing if there is a foreign hand involved in the case. If there is a foreign hand, the CBI will be requisitioned to have the case probed by Interpol."

Interpol takes up cases involving crime against humanity, human trafficking, terrorism, war crime, genocide, illegal trading of art and antiquities, drug trafficking, weapon smuggling, child pornography and intellectual property rights.

Jajpur superintendent of police Anup Kumar Sahu said: "Once we get the crime branch report, we may involve the Interpol, as the circumstantial evidences point at the involvement of an organised racket of antiquities in the case of the Varahanatha temple idols."

ASI superintending archaeologist of the Bhubaneswar circle, A.K. Patel said after the theft of the idol listed with ASI, agencies like Interpol, customs and CBI were informed for immediate action.

Head of the department of history at Dharmasala Mahavidyalaya, Radheshyam Sahu said: "The Varahanath temple is a historic site. Hence, the cops should work hard to recover the lost statues."

Another historian from Jajpur, Nrusingh Charan Nayak said: "In the past, several antique statues were stolen from places such as Nrusinghanath, Udayagiri, Ratnagiri and both the state archaeology and the ASI should deploy more watch and ward staff to ensure safety of such historical artefacts."

Jajpur holds immense importance in the history of Odisha as during the Suryavanshi Gajapati rulers it was made the capital of the region.