VALPOI: 16 ancient stone idols were stolen from the Zadani Basaveshwar temple premises at Valpoi.
A complaint was later filed against unknown person at the Valpoi police station.
The temple comes under the jurisdiction of Nagargao village panchayat and is based on the banks of River Mhadei and attracts thousands of devotees during Maha Shivratri festival. The incident came to light this Monday when some devotees visited the temple to offer prayers on the occasion of Sharvani Somvaar.
The news spread like wildfire after a devotee reported about the robbery to the Valpoi police.
“We noticed that the stone idols were missing from the premises when we visited the temple to offer prayers on Monday. There were 16 idols of various gods and goddesses which were in neglected condition for several years until they were restored and installed properly a few years ago. These idols were worshipped along with the main idol of Basaveshwar and Lord Mahadev’s Lingam which are inside the temple during Shivratri and other festivals,” said Sitaram Naik, one of the devotees who had visited the temple to offer prayers.
Naik also added that although all the 16 idols outside the temple are missing, the main figurines of Basaveshwar and Lingam weree untouched.
When contacted, Valpoi PI Deepak Gadekar said, “A complaint has been filed against the unknown person and investigation is underway. The inquiry is being carried out from various levels.”
Meanwhile as per the information received, it’s suspected that the robbery might have taken place around a month ago. The area comes under Mhadei wildlife sanctuary and the forest department had organised a tree planting program about a month-and-a-half back. These idols were still in place then.
