Seven idols worth crores of rupees seized from house in Chennai

Seven idols including three of them stolen in 2011 from the ancient Adikesava Perumal temple, Ulundurpet, Kallakurichi district in the state were recovered from a house here by the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID, police said on Monday.

The Idol Wing sleuths became suspicious after they noticed on December 7 that the idols registered with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) by a person appeared to be stolen from temples.

Immediately, Idol Wing DIG K Jayanth Murali and IGP Dhinakaran formed a special team under Deputy Superintendents of Police Muthuraja and Mohan, and ordered a search at a house in R A Puram here.

During the search, the idols of Adikesava Perumal, Sridevi, Bhoodevi, Asthira Devar, Amman, Veera Bhadra and Mahadevi were recovered.

The owner of the idols informed the search party that collecting artifacts was her hobby and that she had purchased the antique idols from an art gallery in 2008 and 2015, a release from the Idol Wing said.

Also, she produced receipts for the idols and documents disclosing the registration of the idols mentioned above with the ASI in 2013.

''The idol of Standing Perumal and Sridevi had the name Adikesava temple, Ulundurpet, a telltale clue inscribed at the idol's base,'' Jayanth Murali said in the release.

Enquiries with the temple staff revealed that the idols of Adikesava Perumal, Sridevi and Bhoodevi were stolen on the night of July 10, 2011.

Realising that she was in possession of stolen idols, the house owner handed over the idols to the Idol Wing. The remaining four idols were registered with the ASI in 2008. These four idols are estimated to be worth Rs 2 crore in the international market.

The idols of Standing Perumal, Sreedevi and Bhoodevi will be handed over to the Adikesava Perumal temple shortly.

''This is probably the first time the Idol Wing is restoring the locally stolen antique idols of the temple after recovering them,'' the DGP said while appreciating the team for the splendid work of restoring the temple's lost heritage.

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