Antique idols recovered in West Bengal's Kushmandi

Four rare and antique ancient idols have been recovered in Akcha gram panchayat, Kushmandi, South Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The idols were recovered while the local panchayat workers were drilling soil for a pond with JCB machine.

Kushmandi:Four rare antique idols have been recovered in Akcha gram panchayat, Kushmandi, South Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The idols were recovered while the local panchayat workers were excavating soil for a pond with an earth remover.

People were in awe over the discovery and they started crowding at the spot where the Idols were found. The panchayat workers who were excavating the soil came across the four stone idols. The villagers took the idols to a local temple and sanctified them and offered worship. The police immediately rushed to the spot to control the crowds and to take possession of the idols.

However, the villagers refused to hand over the idols to the police. They claimed that since these idols were recovered from their village, it should be kept at the local temple. The villagers even staged a protest in front of the police vehicle to prevent the policemen from taking possession of the idols. After a lot of persuasion, finally, the villagers agreed to hand over one of the idols to the police. However, the other three idols were preserved at the local temple.

District administration sources said that they are trying to recover all the idols so that they can be preserved at the local museum. According to South Dinajpur district magistrate, Monotosh Mondal, the idols were recovered from Kushmandi by the local panchayat workers while removing the soil. “The police have been able to recover one idol. The remaining three have been preserved as of now at the local temple. We are discussing with the archaeological department to find out ways to recover these idols,” he said.