Germany returns stolen Durga idol, Modi says thank you

Germany on Monday returned to India a 10th century Durga idol, which had gone missing from a temple in Kashmir over two decades ago and was later found in that country. The idol was handed over by visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their talks in the national capital, three years after it was spotted in a museum in Stuttgart.

Modi thanked Merkel and the people of Germany for returning the idol, saying “The statue is from Jammu and Kashmir & is a symbol of victory of good over evil.”  The idol in Mahishasuramardini avatar was stolen from a temple at Pulwama in Kashmir in the 1990s, official sources said. 

In 2012, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) received a tip-off that the idol was spotted at the Linden Museum, Stuttgart. Thereafter, the government started the process of getting it back. Two ASI officials visited Stuttgart for the purpose last year. Armed with the FIR, a crucial evidence that the idol belonged to India, the government took up the issue with the authorities concerned in Germany.

The role of notorious Indian art dealer Subhash Kapoor is suspected in smuggling the idol out of the country. <g data-gr-id="15">Mpost</g>