THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Fort Police probing the loss of an antique brass bowl from the high-security zone of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram arrested an Australian citizen of Indian origin on Sunday and recovered the artifact from him.
However, he was charged under ‘dishonest misappropriation of property’ — a lighter section — after it was found that the bowl, which has antique value, was not stolen, but rather “inadvertently taken away” by Gangesh Jha during his visit to the temple along with his wife and a friend.
Jha, 52, was taken into custody from Gurugram with the help of Haryana Police and brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. His wife and their friend also came along though they were not arraigned in the case. Jha was later released as the section charged was bailable.
The police said during the interrogation it was revealed that Jha did not steal the brass bowl, which is used for purification rituals in the temple. The bowl reportedly dates back to the 15th century and had Tamil and Malayalam inscriptions on it.
Police sources said when Jha was waiting in the queue for darshan on October 13 — Vijayadasami day — he collapsed and a tray he was carrying fell on the floor along with the pooja offerings in it. Seeing this, some of the devotees standing nearby helped him get up, collected the offerings from the ground, and put them in another bowl which was lying outside the place of darshan, the officer said.
The officer said Jha did not even know that the bowl belonged to the temple. He thought that it belonged to one of the devotees, who had helped him.
Jha told the police that he considered the bowl as a gift from god and took it with him, the source said.
Jha considered the bowl as a gift from god: Police
“From the CCTV visuals, it was evident that he did not steal it. He was under the impression that the bowl was given to him by one of the persons who helped him. He had lost his tray and in return someone gave him the bowl. He considered it as a gift from god and took it with him,” the officer said.
The police identified Jha from the CCTV footage and later tracked him down to a posh hotel in Gurugram, where he was staying. Police sources said the three of them were Australian citizens and they set out for a month-long pilgrimage to various temples in the country to honour the wishes of Jha’s late father who was a college professor.
The police said the bowl was recovered from Jha as he had kept it with him, counting it as a souvenir. After Thiruvananthapuram, the trio visited Rameswaram and Trichy and returned to Delhi. “They were regularly travelling during this time and did not spare a thought about the bowl they were carrying.” the police sources said.