New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- Facing initial challenges in verifying its history for two long years, it was a fortuitous moment of rummaging through the pages of a Tantra Shastra book in Odisha that officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) finally unravelled the mystery of a stolen 400-year-old historical brass statue, Kotarakshi.
The statue depicts Mother Chamunda with ten hands and was seized from the IGI Airport in Delhi in 2022. Valued at approximately Rs 3 crore in the global market, the statue's customs interception, measuring around 26 inches and weighing 38 kilogram, prompted ASI's investigation.
Though the idol is now restored to its original home in a temple in the lesser-known village of Badchana in Odisha, the journey f...