By IANS
Agartala : The police here have recovered an antique Hindu idol of Lord Narayana, weighing about 200 kg, the police said Tuesday.
“Acting on a tip-off, the police raided an area of the capital city and recovered the black stone idol measuring two-and-half-feet, late Monday night,” Subrata Chakraborty, officer-in-charge of the city’s west Kotwali police station said.
According to noted archaeologist Jawahar Acherjee, the idol is believed to be of 11th century or belonging to the Pal dynasty period.
“In the international market, the minimum value of the idol could be Rs.20 million and an international smuggling racket might have tried to smuggle this antique idol to Bangladesh en route to America or Europe where such antiques are of immense value for the private curators and antique collectors,” Acherjee, who also runs a big private museum of antique idols, coins and traditional materials, told journalists.
Chakraborty said that if the police had not taken urgent steps, the idol could have been smuggled out to Bangladesh Monday night itself.
“There were several other previous instances of antiques from Tripura being stolen and then smuggled out to Bangladesh en route to the US and European countries,” the police official added.
“Only some years ago, antique idols were stolen from the state government museum and temples in western and southern Tripura,” Chakraborty added.
The police are yet to ascertain from where the idol was stolen.