Germany Returns Durga Idol Stolen 20 Years Ago From Kashmir Temple
Germany returns Durga idol stolen from Kashmir, India, three years after it was spotted in Stuttgart museum.
As part of the third Inter-Governmental Consultations on Monday, Germany returned to India a 10th century Durga idol, that had gone missing from a temple in Kashmir over two decades ago.
The statue is from Jammu and Kashmir and is a symbol of victory of good over evil.
— Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
The idol in Mahishasuramardini avatar was stolen from a temple at Pulwama in Kashmir in the 1990s, official sources said.
An FIR was registered in connection with the theft. In 2012, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) received a tip-off that the idol was spotted at the Linden Museum, Stuttgart.
Two ASI officials visited Stuttgart last year to get it back.
Notorious Indian art dealer Subhash Kapoor is suspected to be involved in smuggling the idol out of the country. Kapoor was arrested in Germany in 2011.
Sources said the idol could have been procured from his gallery ‘Art of the Past’.
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