Over 3000 members of the community participated in a rally on Friday and submitted a memorandum to the home secretary demanding more security at the Jain temples in and around the city.

On February 9, two idols, one of astadhatu and the other silver, went missing from the Shree Neminath Digamber Jain Temple in Posta. In both cases, the intruder broke in through a temple window.

In 1994, three idols had gone missing from the Shantinath Digamber Jain Mandir situated in Kakurgachi. But all three were recovered within a month from a pond in Baruipur. In October 2008, the idol of Lord Parswanath, the 23rd Tirthankara, went missing from the Shri Parswanath Digamber Jain Mandir in Alipore.

“The idol is made of astadhatu and is over 100 years old. It was brought to Alipore from the Belgachia Jain temple about 40 years ago,” said Narayan Jain, a member of the Minorities Commission. “We suspect a few people and police have also picked them up for questioning.”

The discontent among the community is evident. The spot which the idol occupied has been left vacant for the past five months.

“It reminds us that the idol has been stolen. Putting a new idol in its place would mean that we have lost all hopes of getting the old one back,” said Jain.

The members of the community met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Commissioner of Kolkata Police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti last October and requested them to ensure that the idol is recovered.