Mysuru: District police have recovered a 400-year old Quran from a 10 member antique peddler gang on Monday.
It is reported that the police had received information about the Quran and they had contacted the gang as prospective buyers.
Four members of the gang were arrested in this regard in Hosa Agrahara in KR Nagar.
The other six members of the gang were arrested in Mysuru. The arrested are Nagaraju S (39), M Murali Krishna (30), Kanakappa (40), Kambaali (54), Sanath (27), Ravindra (33), Raghu (30), Vijayendra (33), Prasad (43), Bhaskar M (30). They are from different districts across Karnataka and were quoting Rs. 5 crores for the rare piece which had sourced from Hyderabad.
SP Abhinav Khare said that police were tipped off about the gang after which a trap was laid out; a video of the work also helped the police nab the gang. Dealers are said to show potential buyers these videos before the deal is sealed. Now that the dealers have been caught and the medieval treasure is property of the court.
The police have also recovered a four wheeler and have booked the gang under the provisions of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.
“The Quran dates back to the Mughal period”, said noted Historian Prof. B Sheik Ali and added, “It is written in italic calligraphy, the letters in are in black ink over specially made gold coloured paper with floral designs. The age of the relic was determined through the date mentioned on the last page of the book in the Islamic calendar”
The words ‘Al Qura-ul-Karim’ are inscribed over the 604-page book which is roughly 6” by 4”. Prof. Ali believes that a good calligrapher would have taken about 6- 7 years to produce the piece. This particular Quran appears to be the oldest in the country.
