Prime accused Santosh Das granted bail in Siddantha Darshana Mandir burglary case

Prime accused Santosh Das granted bail in Siddantha Darshana Mandir burglary case

Mangalore Today News Network

 Mangalore, Mar 1, 2014 : Santosh Das alias Ghanashyam, the prime accused in the  case of burglary of valuable idols worth several thousands of crores from the Siddantha Darshana Mandir of Moodbidri last year, has now been granted bail by the Third Additional Civil Court in the  city. The theft was reported on the night of July 5 last year.

Earlier Santosh’s advocate Nagesh Shetty D had moved a bail petition arguing that his client be granted bail  as  the police had recovered 20  idols while  earlier they had claimed that 12 idols were stolen. He also contended that the recovery of additional idols pointed fingers towards the  truthfulness of the police probe into the case. He also stated that the police had not tried to arrest those whose names were revealed by Santosh Das during interrogation. If police had seized eight idols, 12 other idols were received by the office of the Police Commissioner  via a speed post.

 Apart from Santosh Das, his wife Deeptimayi Patnaik and father-in-law Digambar Mohanty were arrested in the case. However the latter two were granted bail.

Santosh Das who is facing several other theft charges, has however been granted bail in the  theft cases at Ganga Jewellery Karkala and at Kodyadka Temple. He is also expecting to get bail in a few other cases, say sources.