By IANS
Dhaka : A week after two stolen Gupta-era statues of Hindu god Vishnu were found totally damaged, Bangladeshi authorities are yet to nab the culprits.
The 1,500-year-old statues were stolen from the Zia International Airport (ZIA) on Dec 22. The statues were part of the 145-pieces of artefacts that were to be exhibited at the Guimet Museum in Paris, as part of a bilateral deal.
Dhaka has called off the deal following the theft and the public outcry.
The government has pressed into action the elite paramilitary force of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) who has used street urchins to search the garbage dumps at Baliarpur in Aminbazar on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Working at the dumping site throughout Friday, some 200 RAB personnel gathered around 200 pieces of the two statues. Later, two National Museum officials identified 27 pieces as parts of the stolen Gupta era “Vishnu” and “Bust of Vishnu” idols.
According to a National Museum official, of the fragments salvaged, 20 make up about 25 percent of the black terracotta statuette of Vishnu where the Hindu god stands with goddesses Saraswati and Laxmi. The other pieces make up a little over 10 percent of the bust.
Police, however, claim 80 percent of the goddesses portion of the statuette was retrieve and only a fraction of a hand (one hand was already missing) and legs of Vishnu was recovered.
RAB sources said many of their personnel who were involved in the search operation at the garbage dump became sick, forcing change of timing of the operation.
Police is yet to establish either the motive behind the theft and destruction of the artefacts, or trace one Abbas of the Abbas-Nasir gang, believed to be the mastermind of the theft-cum-destruction and member of a gang of smuggler of artefacts.
The Bangla-French deal became controversial after artists and a section of the country’s intelligentsia went to court saying that they feared the artefacts may be damaged or stolen, and may not return from France.
The government pushed the deal amidst street protests and shifted the artefacts from Dhaka Museum, the custodian, to a warehouse at the Zia International Airport. The two statues were stolen even as the first consignment reached Paris and was being readied for the exhibition.
The theft has led to a blame-game and even a diplomatic row after the French Embassy blamed the Bangladesh government and the protestors for the incident and disclaimed any role in the theft.
Political parties have also jumped in to criticise both the governments. Art lovers formed human chains and have continued the protest, demanding action against the officials responsible for guarding the statues.