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UP: Sandalwood necklace worn by Kabir stolen

The original sandalwood (chandan) necklace of 15th century mystic poet Sant Kabir Das, gifted to him by his guru Ramananda, was stolen from Kabir math (monastery) here on Sunday allegedly by an absconding Buddhist monk who was a regular there.

Updated on: Dec 2, 2013, 18:34:48 IST
Hindustan Times | By , Varanasi
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The original sandalwood (chandan) necklace of 15th century mystic poet Sant Kabir Das, gifted to him by his guru Ramananda, was stolen from Kabir math (monastery) here on Sunday allegedly by an absconding Buddhist monk who was a regular there.

HT Image
HT Image



Even after 24-hours of the high-profile robbery there has been no trace of the missing Buddhist monk.



“We will contact the Thailand embassy in New Delhi to verify the address given by the monk in the visitor’s book of the math,” said additional director general of police GL Meena.



A high alert has been sounded at Lal Bahadur Shastri airport to arrest the monk identified as Pele, 45, a native of Bangkok.



The priceless necklace is expected to fetch crores of rupees in the market.



According to reports, Pele arrived at the math on Sunday and requested the staff to allow him to meditate in the room where various valuable articles of the sage were kept.



As Pele had been a regular visitor to the math for the past three years, the staff opened the room.



However, when the monk left the math the staff noticed that the original mala of the poet was missing. The staff immediately alerted the cops. At the time of incident, head priest of the math Mahant Vivek Das was in New Delhi.



Following the tip-off, the Sarnath police raided a Thai temple at Sarnath to trace the monk, but to no avail.



"A high alert has been sounded in Varanasi and adjoining areas. If the math lodges an FIR against the monk then we have no problem in lodging the complaint," senior superintendent of police Rajesh Modak said.

  • Pawan Dixit
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Pawan Dixit

    Pawan Dixit has been a journalist for over a decade. He has extensively covered eastern UP for around five years, covered 2012 UP assembly polls, 2014 Lok Sabha polls while being stationed in Varanasi. Now, in Lucknow, he covers outstation political assignments, reports special cases from district court, high court and state information commissionRead More

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