New Delhi: The Delhi police has arrested two persons, including a woman, for allegedly stealing a 12th century idol of Terton Pema Lingpa, who is highly revered in the Buddhist religion.
The idol, worth several crores and around 900 years old, was stolen from the house of the head Cheepa (head Lama) in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh on the intervening night of May 31 and June 1, said deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Madhur Verma.
The accused wanted to exact revenge from the Cheepa and also earn money by selling the statue and used the opportunity to fulfil his twin goals.
On June 4, the crime branch of the Delhi police received information that the accused were trying to sell the 900-year-old idol in the grey market of Majnu-Ka-Tilla for Rs 1.40 crore. From there, the idol would be smuggled to Tibet.
Mr Verma said that they received crucial inputs from the Arunachal Pradesh police and developed on the information. A team led by the assistant commissioner of police (Crime), Sanjay Sehrawat, laid a trap near Gurdwara Majnu-Ka-Tilla on June 5 around 8 am to nab the accused.
The accused, Ngawang Tsundue (29) and his live-in partner Lobsang Gakey Sherpa (26), were arrested when they arrived there to meet a prospective buyer. The police recovered a golden coloured idol from Tsundue’s bag and some religious clothes were recovered from Sherpa.
Tsundue, who is a permanent resident of Tibet, came to India in 2009-2010. He started living in Dharamsala, where he met the daughter of the head Cheepa of Tawang. He was working in a medicine shop there. In 2011, he married her but their marriage ended in divorce last year. He wanted to take revenge from the Cheepa’s family. He knew that if he stole the idol, he could earn a huge amount of money by selling it and the incident will tarnish the Cheepa’s name.
He started planning the theft with his live-in partner. He knew that the idol was kept at the Cheepa’s home and was only taken to the monastery on special occasions. Tsundue was aware that the Cheepa’s family had gone to attend a function in Kullu and he used the opportunity to steal the statue from the latter’s home. There was an old woman present at the home when the burglary happened. The incident had generated social and religious unrest in Tawang, said the DCP, adding that they have informed their counterparts in Arunachal Pradesh.
