In an attempt to pressure the State government to transfer the investigation of the stolen Jain idols from a Basadi in Moodbidri to the CBI, seers from eight different Jain Mutts in the State will stage a day-long silent proteston the premises of Thousand Pillars Temple at Moodbidri on Wednesday.
The protest will start at 8.30 a.m., and around 2,000 persons from the Jain community – including D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala – are expected to participate in this, said a release from the Moodabidri Jain Samaj.
On the night of July 5, 15 antique Jain idols from Siddantha Darshan temple were stolen.
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In the subsequent days, eight were recovered, while the main accused, Ghanshyam Das from Orissa, was arrested. While the Samaj expressed its appreciation of the police investigation in the immediate aftermath of the theft, they are sceptical of the progress after the arrests.
“The police haven’t been able to make any further inroads in the case and have not recovered all the idols,” said the Samaj in a release.
A CBI inquiry was needed as the case was dear to the Jain community, while the extensive network of idol thieves –Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh – needed a national-level investigative agency, said the release.
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