US hands over stolen statue back to Nepal

March 3, Kathmandu: The US government has handed over a statue, which was stolen from Nepal some 37 years ago, to Nepal. The historical statue is said to have belonged to a temple at Patan. 

The stolen idol of Laxminarayan (Vasudev-Kamalaja) was handed over by Timothy N. Dunham of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to Nepal’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr Yuvraj Khatiwada amid a ceremony held at the Nepali Embassy in Washington DC on Friday, according to the US Embassy Kathmandu.

The statue had been kept in the Dallas Museum of Arts in the United States since 1990. 

The statue is said to have been made in medieval Nepal and is 33.5 inches high and 19.25 inches wide. 

The American embassy has stated that the idol will be brought to Nepal after completing the necessary process of UNESCO.