GUNTUR: Guntur Rural police has recovered 13 antique idols worth 2 crore and arrested 13 accused.
Addressing a press conference in Guntur on Friday, Additional SP M Venkateswara Rao said suspect Aradhyula Siva Nagaraju was found at Kuchipudi village of Amruthaluru mandal and was taken into custody. Guntur CCS police had conducted an inquiry into the increasing cases of idol thefts from temples across the district.
During interrogation, the suspect told police that 12 more were involved in multiple burglary cases along with Nagaraju. Six cases were booked against the accused in five police stations of Guntur and Prakasam districts. After their arrest, the police recovered 10 panchaloha idols among others. Two cars, seven mobiles and `1,68,200 cash was also seized from them. They had resorted to stealing of antique idols to earn easy money, the police said.
During the raid, idols of Sri Mallaswara Swamy and Sri Ganga Devi stolen from temples in Tsunduru mandal, and Sri Rama, Sita and Hanuman from shrines in Prakasam district were among the recovered antiques. These idols are made of panchaloha materials. Those arrested were identified as Aradhyula Siva Nagaraju, Kurra Manikanta, Guntur Prabhu, Gullapalli Mahesh Kumar, Badra Gopi, Kokkilligadda Saidulu, Dudekula Khasim Vali, Sk Subhani, Sk Mahaboob Basha, Shabbir Basha of Markapuram, Sk Meeravali, Sk Khader Basha of Chimakurthi. Guntur Rural Ch Venkata SP announced rewards for the cops who caught the gang.
Temple thefts
The police recovered 10 panchaloha idols. Panchaloha is a term for traditional five-metal alloys used for making idols of Hindu deities