22-07-2025
From The Hindu, July 22, 1975: Antique dealer held in Bombay for thefts in T Nadu
Bombay, July 21: A notorious idol lifter and a hawker-turned millionaire, Bahadur Singh Teja Singh Lama, who was running two workshops in Bombay for manufacturing fake idols, was arrested by the Bombay Police under COFEPOSA yesterday under orders of the Maharashtra Government.
Bahadur Singh Teja Singh had been earlier ordered by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr. S.C. Kotwal, to be released on a bail of Rs. 5 lakhs in connection with a case involving the theft of several idols from South Indian temples worth Rs. 1.5 crores.
Following this the Additional Commissioner of Police, Mr. R.S. Kulkarni, moved the State Government for his arrest under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA).
Bahadur Singh was running a moderu air conditioned emporium 'Kalimpong Art House' in a posh locality in Central Bombay, and two workshops called Handicraft Emporiums ostensibly for selling handicrafts, the Police said.
But actually the workshops were manufacturing replicas of priceless South Indian temple idols which were to be substituted for the original idols with the connivance of temple priests. The original idols were in turn exported at fabulous prices, the police said.
An Inspector and two Sub Inspectors of the Tamil Nadu Police who had come here to take away Bahadur Singh returned to Madras as they had been directed by the Bombay Police to get a Magistrate's order for taking him.
Bahadur Singh has now been lodged in the Nasik Jail.
