[MSN] Police seek help from archaeologists to track Jain statue mystery

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Police seek help from archaeologists to track Jain statue mystery 
 
Goldsmith on whom it was found refuses to reveal origin, cops also examining
CBI records 
 
Express News Service 
 
New Delhi, December 5: Crime Branch officials are brushing up their history
lessons after they arrested a goldsmith trying to sell an antique ashtadhatu
Mahavira idol near the Shri Ram Institute in Maurice Nagar today. 

Where Humayunpur resident Manoj Soni got the statute from is a mystery.
Officials are pouring through CBI records of stolen antiques and the
Archaeological Survey of India has been called in to assist the probe. 

 
 
The Crime Branch said the statue is around 800 years old but an ASI official
says it is more likely to be around 500 years old. 

Police officers got a tip-off that a man would be trying to sell the 19 cm
tall and 14 cm wide statue of the 24th Jain Tirthankara in Maurice Nagar. A
team sent there spotted Soni with a bag around 5 pm. A search of the bag
revealed the statue. 

Police say Soni has not told them about the origin of the statue, saying
only that he had come in contact with a person some time ago who offered him
a 50 per cent share of the proceeds. Crime Branch sources say the goldsmith
had come to meet a tout who was interested in buying the statue and was
hoping to sell the idol for Rs 50 lakh. 

Police are also trying to track the people who gave Soni the statue. A
senior police official said teams are being sent out of Delhi to crack the
mystery. 

A K Sinha, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI (Delhi Circle), says: "We
have inspected the idol and it seems as if it was used for worship. This
seems like a north Indian idol. Similar idols have been found in Hansi in
Haryana and Fatehpur near Agra. My personal opinion is that this idol dates
back to around 500 years."