New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in a significant breakthrough in the 2002 Garhwa fort idol theft case, nabbed the absconding accused from Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur on Sunday.

The accused named Ramnarayan was held from Naseerpur village of Fatehpur district.

The idol theft at the temple from Garhwa Fort, a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) site in Prayagraj, took place in 2002, and it also saw a horrific instance of dacoity and murder.

The case was registered by Prayagraj Police, which mentioned that a gang of 11 persons led by accused Vijay Kumar Shukla committed dacoity at the protected Garhwa Fort on the intervening night of April 21-22, 2002.

The group of ruffians also murdered watchman Vinod Kumar Srivastava by assaulting and gagging him to death, overpowered another watchman, broke open the lock of the storeroom and stole a valuable stone idol of Lord Buddha, which broke into two pieces during its removal, said reports.

After investigation, CBI filed a chargesheet on December 22, 2005, against 10 accused persons, including four accused who had remained absconding, namely, Vijay Kumar Shukla, Ravi Karan, Suraj Bhan and Ramnarayan @ Hyder.

The CBI sleuths in their investigation found that stolen idol pieces were ferried in a vehicle and sold by accused Vijay Kumar Shukla to two persons for Rs 2.20 Lakh. The idol was subsequently shifted to a godown at Mahipalpur, Delhi, and was allegedly sent abroad.

The investigative agency kept up its chase of the absconding accused even after the passage of many years and captured all those on the run.

Absconding accused Suraj Bhan and Ravi Karan were apprehended last year – on May 22 and June 2, respectively, while another accused, Vijay Kumar Shukla, was traced to Chitrakoot District Jail in connection with another case of Uttar Pradesh Police.

Necessary steps have already been initiated before the Lucknow court for securing his production in the present case, the agency said in a statement.

With the arrest of Ramnarayan @ Hyder, all the absconding accused in the case have now been traced. They will now face trial in accordance with the law.

–IANS

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