The stolen antiques are Laxmibaraha and Swetabaraha idols of Kharakhia temple, Balibaman idol of Balibaman temple and Conch, Mace and Lotus idols of Gadadhara temple.
Six rare antique idols, made of precious stone, were stolen from the Barahanath temple complex located on Baitarani river bank on the outskirt of Jajpur town in Odisha, police said on Thursday.
The matter came to light after temple authorities filed a complaint about the incident of Monday night with the local police on Wednesday, Kamal Lochan Bhuinyan, inspector-in-charge of Jajpur town police station, said.
The stolen antiques are Laxmibaraha and Swetabaraha idols of Kharakhia temple, Balibaman idol of Balibaman temple and Conch, Mace and Lotus idols of Gadadhara temple. All these are small shrines within the premises of Barahanath temple.
Police have registered a case in this connection and a team of forensic officials along with sniffer dogs have visited the spot, he said.
Though police are yet to get any clue about the thieves, involvement of an outside gang are suspected behind the theft of the precious idols.
“We suspect involvement of some racket in the incident which might have planned to sell the idols in international market,” said the IIC adding investigation is on to identify the culprits.
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Prasanta Patnaik