The police has achieved a big success. Idols worth 30 crore stolen from the ancient temple in Kathini village have been recovered. Along with this, four people including the temple's Baba have been arrested. The shocking thing is that in this theft case, Samajwadi Party Yuvjan Sabha's national general secretary and former district panchayat member Ram Bahadur Pal has also been arrested. The accused SP leader, along with the temple's Mahant Bansidas alias Bansibaba, had stolen the Ashtadhatu idol installed in the Shri Ram Janaki temple for hundreds of years.

In the Pandari police station area of Mirzapur district, hundreds of years old idols of Lord Shri Ram, Laxman and Mother Janaki were installed in the temple. On January 14, 2025, all three idols installed in Ashtadhatu disappeared from the temple. The police, who are investigating the case by registering an FIR, revealed the theft incident. On Saturday afternoon, ASP Operation OP Singh has disclosed the matter in a press conference held in the auditorium of Police Line.

The one who filed the report turned out to be the thief

In fact, on the night of 13-14 January, a very old ashtadhatu idol of Shri Ram, Laxman and Mata Janaki was stolen from the temple. As soon as the information of this was received in the morning, there was a stir in the village. The police reached the spot after getting the information and inspected the spot. In this regard, the priest of the temple, Banshidhar Guru Mahamandleshwar Jai Ramdas Maharaj, gave a complaint in the police station. Taking seriously the incident of theft of ashtadhatu idol worth crores from the ancient temple, the newly appointed Superintendent of Police of the district, Somen Verma, gave instructions to form a team to disclose the incident and recover the stolen idols. On which investigation started. Meanwhile, on the basis of information from the informer, the police caught four people riding a Bolero under suspicious circumstances near Haimai temple under Padri police station area. When the people riding in the vehicle were identified, they were identified as temple priest Banshidas, who had lodged a complaint about the theft, Lavkush Pal, Mukesh Kumar Soni and Ram Bahadur Pal.

The stolen idol, clothes, makeup items and idols of Shri Ram, Janaki Mata and Laxman were recovered from the possession of the accused. Its value in the international market is estimated to be around Rs 30 crore. The police team has also recovered the Bolero vehicle used in this theft.

Shocking revelations during interrogation

During police interrogation, Baba Banshidas told that he had been looking after the Kathini temple for about 3 years. There is a dispute going on between his guru Maharaj Jairamdas and Satua Baba regarding the ownership of the temple. When he came to know about this dispute, he came to Jairamdas' aid and Jairamdas had promised him that after the dispute with Satua Baba is over, he will make him the owner of all the property. But Dom Banshidhar first came to know that Jairamdas wants to give this vehicle to his nephew instead of him. Then he made a plan that he will steal the priceless ashtadhatu idol of the temple and after selling it, he will go somewhere far away and make a separate monastery of his own.

Baba Banshidhar alias Brijmohan Das has been given gunmen for security purposes under Maha Kumbh Mela 2025. Surprisingly, Baba carried out this theft by shifting the gunmen to carry out the theft of the idol worth crores.