San Jose statue depicting heroic Indian ruler found after being stolen

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – A statue weighing more than 400 pounds was stolen right out of a park in San Jose at the end of January. It has since been found, but where it was found is the bizarre part of the story.

The stolen statue is of Shivaji Maharaj, an Indian warrior sitting on top of a horse. The metal and bronze statue was stolen from Guadalupe River Park in San Jose.

“If it wasn’t for Shivaji Maharaj all of India would have been lost to foreign invaders, and that’s why everyone respects him and loves him,” said Suneel Kelkar of the San Jose Pune Sister City organization.

Kelkar says the statue was given to the city as a gift for being a sister city in 1999.

“Many people from San Jose, throughout the world, particularly those from India would come and see the statue,” Kelkar said. 

Joe Hedges with the City of San Jose says after the statue was stolen in January there were no leads. But on Thursday, a Mercury News reporter found it at a metal scrapyard close by.

“Possibly someone was trying to turn it in and have it melted down and have cash for that,” Hedges said. 

KRON4 is told that the statue, which was broken by vandals, is now at San Jose police headquarters. Kelkar says he is not sure how it will get fixed, because the original artist in India passed away a few years ago.

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“We were quite, one disappointed, one mad, and pissed off at people who had no clue what they were doing… just for getting a few dollars,” Kelkar saod. 

And with no suspects, he doesn’t want the 400-pound statue back outside.

“How do you protect the statue from vandals like this?” he asked.