Ahmedabad, Jul 17 (PTI) Four members of a gang allegedly involved in the theft of a 150-year-old metal finial piece from a tomb at the heritage site Sarkhej Roza on the outskirts of the city have been arrested, police said on Thursday.
Unfortunately, only broken pieces of the sacred finial or `kalash’, called ‘Panjtan Pak’, were recovered as the accused were planning to sell the metal pieces as scrap, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Ajit Rajian.
While four gang members were nabbed by the Ahmedabad crime branch from Mehsana district, four others were still at large, he said.
The Sarkhej Roza complex in Makarba area houses a shrine of Shaikh Ahmed Khattu Ganj Bakhsh, spiritual mentor of Ahmedabad’s founder Sultan Ahmed Shah.
Built in 1451, this Indo-Islamic masterpiece has been protected by the Archaeological Survey of India since 1921, said DCP Rajian.
As per the complaint filed by the Sarkhej Roza committee on July 1, unidentified persons climbed the main dome of the mausoleum of Ganj Bakhsh during the previous night and stole the 150-year-old finial weighing nearly 6 kg.
The arrested men were identified as Suresh Dantani, Munna Dantani, Vishnu Dantani and Gopal Dantani, all residents of Mehsana.
The gang climbed the tomb using ropes and stole the finial hoping to sell it as scrap material, said a police release, adding that broken pieces of the artifact were recovered from the possession of the arrested persons.
The accused are habitual offenders named in several past cases of theft and other offences in Ahmedabad, Mehsana and Patan districts, said the release, adding that search is on for the other four gang members. PTI PJT KRK
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