India's ambassador to Italy Rajiv Dogra and President of Turin city council Giuseppe Castronov jointly inaugurated the heavily-guarded statue after a gang of thieves first stole it from the Milan airport and then made an abortive attempt to smuggle it across the border before the police nabbed them.
According to sources, the thieves stole the statue from Milan airport almost immediately after it reached there from Kolkata, loaded it in their truck and sped out of Milan.
They reached the border town of Pordenone in North-East Italy, close to Slovenia, without detection. A 30-minute delay by the police would have resulted in the bronze bust being spirited away across the border, the sources said.
Thanks to the timely intimation of the theft by airport authorities to the Indian Mission in Italy, which raised an alarm, the Italian police acted swiftly and nabbed the thieves just in time, they said.
From then on no chance was taken by the police and the bronze bust was taken under heavy police escort right up to Turin, a distance of 450 kms.
The bust was commissioned and gifted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. It was sculpted by famous Indian sculptor Gautam Pal.
Pal, who obtained his diploma in sculpture from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, enjoys a special relationship with Italy.
Image: India's ambassador to Italy Rajiv Dogra and President of Turin city council Giuseppe Castronov at the unveiling of the bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Turin, Italy on Friday.
Photo courtesy: Embassy of India, Rome