Arunachal: Stolen antique idol recovered

Itanagar, Dec 21: In a major breakthrough, the Tawang police recovered a stolen antique idol from Bhalukpong in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, police said here today.

The precious metal idol, weighing 9.170 kg, was stolen from Tashi Choiley Gonpa at Lumla on June 11.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team, led by Superintendent of Police S N Mosobi and officer in charge of the Lumla police station Anand Mondal, picked up one M Tsering, a burglar from the Lumla village on December 17, who confessed that he had stolen the idol about six months back.

He also confessed that he had left the idol with one Thutan Tashi.

The miscreant was arrested by the police near Sella Pass and later the idol was recovered.

Earlier, a gold idol of Guru Padmasambhava, which was stolen from Kharteng village in December 2006 and estimated at Rs three crore in the international market, was recovered by Mr Mondol from Kathmandu in February this year.

The state government had conferred a gold medal on the police officer for recovering the idol.

UNI