I-Day gesture? UK returns stolen Buddha statue to India after 57 years

12th Century statue of Lord Buddha which was stolen from India some 57 years ago was returned by the United Kingdom on Wednesday in a special event on the occasion of India's 72nd Independence Day.

London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) handed over the gold statue of Lord Buddha to the Indian High Commissioner YK Sinha on Wednesday.

The gold idol with silver inlay, which belonged from post-Gupta 12th century, was one of the 14 images stole in 1961 from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) site museum in Nalanda, Bihar.

The image was discovered by Vijay Kumar, who is associated with India Pride Project and Lynda Albertson, CEO of Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) at an auction organised by a London based dealer.

Kumar later got in touch with the Indian High Commission and the Met Police for the same.

After obtaining this information, the Indian High Commission requested the ASI to confirm the findings and took up the case officially with the Metropolitan Police. During the investigation, it was found that the statue changed hands several times before being consigned to a London dealer for sale.

When the dealer and owner of the statue were made aware of the theft, they co-operated with the Police and agreed for the piece to be returned to India.