Bara, Dec. 10 -- A month ago, locals extracted an ancient statue of Lord Bishnu from a pond at Nayaka Tole in Simraungadh Municipality, Bara. The pond was being dug up by an excavator, and the statue broke before it could be taken out. The broken statue was left unattended for days on the pond's bank, after which it got stolen. As the news broke out, the police began to investigate. They reached Barthahawa in Sarlahi and discovered that the statue was stolen by Nabim Ram, the driver of the excavator used to dig the pond. In his statement to the police, Ram said that he decided to take the statue since nobody cared about it for a month.

"It took quite an effort to arrest the thief and get hold of the statue," said SP Apurva Dhungana. "Loc...