Thieves have returned 14 ancient objects believed to be idols stolen from a temple in the Indian city of Chitrakuta in Madhya Pradesh, Report Wire reported. Monk Mahant Rambalak found a bag of idols near his home a week after they disappeared. The idols were accompanied by a note in which the criminals complained that after the theft they began to suffer from nightmares, so they got scared and decided to return the loot.
According to police officer Rajiv Kumar Singh, two of the idols that disappeared from the temple have not been found. He estimated the value of the returned valuables at tens of millions of rupees. 100 rupees is € 1.22 euros. Rambalak said the stolen idols were about 300 years old. Nine of them are made from the ritual alloy ashtadhatu, which consists of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, iron and antimony or mercury. Three more are made of copper and four are made of an alloy of copper and zinc. All idols are decorated with silver. The monk filed a complaint with the police. Four suspects in the crime have already been identified.
