Gaya, Jan. 30: Police today recovered idols of Buddha, purportedly ancient, from a house at Mastpura in Bodhgaya.

The idols were recovered from the house of Ghunghat alias Ram Vilas Chaudhary, who is lodged in Aurangabad jail for idol smuggling. His son, Bablu, was arrested today.

Gaya city superintendent of police Ravi Ranjan Kumar said: "We raided Ghunghat's house and found 35 idols, including those of Lord Buddha, Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati, in many sizes buried under the ground of the house."

Prima facie, the idols seem to be ancient, probably from the Asokan era. Three idols were big, while the rest small. One had a stupa that was similarity to the shape of the World Heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara. "We will write to the Archaeological Survey of India to get those inspected to ascertain their age," he said.

Rajiv Kumar, a Buddhist scholar, expressed doubt about the antiquity of the idols. "Some seem to have been built recently and were probably buried underground to give it an ancient look."