Himachal Pradesh police on December 10 alerted Interpol and immigration authorities about theft of priceless and revered idol of Lord Raghunath from Kullu temple. The state government also announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone giving any clue about the theft that could led to recovery of the idol and other stolen articles. The police, which has set-up a six member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Nihal Chand, Additional SP Kullu, have launched a major manhunt to nab the thieves and other persons involved in the theft. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Sanjay Kundu, who is camping at Kullu, told the Indian Express, “Police are working on some different leads including monitoring of telephone details of some suspects .We have persons experts in different fields in the SIT to collectively investigate the case.” There is still a sense of disbelief and shock in Kullu about the theft as the police suspect involvement of some persons who had information about lack of security at the temple during the night hours. Maheshwar Singh, sitting MLA and Chief kardar (servant ) of Lord Raghunath - which is a presiding deity of historic Kullu Dussehra - had claimed that the burglars have adopted the same modus operandi as they did in January 2014 when an aborted attempt was made to steal the idol. “We are looking into the earlier case also and it could also provide them vital clues “, said DGP Sanjay Kumar.
