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Police still clueless about stolen Gautam Buddha sculptures
Strap: Police conducted series of raids, search operations in hotels, suspected labourers’ houses, water bodies and hilly areas; Security beefed up at excavation site, borders The Hazaribagh police was unable to find any clue in the ancient Gautam Buddha sculptures’ theft case despite a series of raids and search operations at hotels and suspect labourers’ houses, police said on Monday
Strap: Police conducted series of raids, search operations in hotels, suspected labourers’ houses, water bodies and hilly areas; Security beefed up at excavation site, borders
The Hazaribagh police was unable to find any clue in the ancient Gautam Buddha sculptures’ theft case despite a series of raids and search operations at hotels and suspect labourers’ houses, police said on Monday.
“We are conducting raids and search operation at every possible place. We have not found any trace of the stolen sculptures so far. But, we will find it very soon,” Sadar SDPO Mahesh Prajapati, in-charge of the special investigation team (SIT) set up in the case, said.
Recently on Saturday night, two of the ancient sculptures of Gautam Buddha out of nearly a dozen articles unearthed during an ongoing excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on the foothills of Juljul hill at Sadar block were stolen in presence of security personnel and labourers working at the site.
The SIT on Monday conducted a search operation in water bodies and the nearby hills. Meanwhile, security was beefed up around the excavation site in a bid to protect the remaining sculptures and artifacts. Checking was also tightened on borders to prevent transportation of the stolen articles from Hazaribag, police said.
Besides, police were interrogating the five police personnel, who were on duty at the site on the night when the theft allegedly took place, to establish negligence that caused the theft. Responsible personnel might face suspension, police said.
Suspecting international link to the crime, police also conducted search operations at hotels in the district on Sunday night. “Involvement of international gangs in the crime cannot be ruled out,” the SDPO said.
Around 80 labourers were working at the excavation site. The houses of suspect labourers were also searched. However, nothing was recovered, police said.
Meanwhile, excavation work at the site was temporarily suspended. ASI officials said they stopped work for two to three days to ensure basic security of the place such as barricading and entry gate.
In its excavation so far, the ASI unearthed a complete shrine with a central and two subsidiary shrines, and a small Buddha Vihar-like structure. The team also discovered around a dozen sculptures, which expectedly belong to the 10th century, from the Buddha Vihar-like site.
