Idols worth Rs 77 crore seized

Chennai: In yet another operation, the third one during the last one week, idol wing personnel unearthed 8 idols dating between the 10th and 13th centuries and valued around Rs77 crore from Mambalam, Chennai, and arrested a cinema production manager on Thursday. This is the biggest and most valued haul in the last five years by the staff strapped idol wing which functions with less than 10 people, under the enforcement offence wing.

Personnel arrested Dhanalingam, 38, a cinema production executive from Kollywood in connection with the seizure and recovered eight idols of the later Chola period, from his possession on Wednesday night. The suspect claimed that the idols were on his hand on transit. Personnel are on the lookout for four more accomplices of the arrested suspect. ”The idols of Perumal, Sivan and Parvathi on a single pedestal, Parvathi, and Umayal Parameshwari belong to the 10th century and Vishnu, Sridevi, Bhoodevi, and Chakrathalwar belong to the 13th century,” said Prateep V. Philip, additional director general of police, Economic Offences Wing.

Idol wing personnel believe that the seized idols might be stolen from two temples in Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district. “There is a high demand for artifacts belonging to the later Chola era in the US, Australia and European nations, where private art collectors are willing to pay millions of dollars for these idols,” the officer added. Dhanalingam, who worked in a Tamil movie named Appuchi Gramam and a  native of Perambalur, settled in Chennai, was  caught while transporting the idols from Mambalam to a secluded spot for Salem,  noted Ponn Manickavel, DIG, idol wing.
According to police officers, they were keeping Dhanalingam under their vigil for the last three months.

“We deployed decoys to the smugglers to bring out the idols which are hidden. We are checking idol burglaries reported in the last five years in Tiruvannamalai to find out the temples from which they were stolen,” said inspector general of police Ashok Kumar Das. The police team said that they had verified the antique value of the seized idols with the help of experts in the city.

Marking on idols can stop smugglers

Despite repeated suggestions from the idol wing cops that deities in thousands of temples in the state should mark the idols and also prepare digital dossiers on it,  temples and HR&CE department seem to be moving very slow. There were no markings on the idols seized on Thursday as to find out the identity and the ownership”,  noted AG Pon Manickavel, DIG, idol wing.

According to Prateep V. Philip, ADGP,  the police have suggested the HR&CE department to carry out the census and to create a digital database of the idols present in every temple. “There are about 4.5 lakh idols in 45,000 and odd temples across the state. Marking them with either in ‘infra red’ or ‘metal engraving’ will make it tougher for the smugglers to clear the customs check while exporting them”, noted a police officer. Offices noted that of the eight idols seized three had holy threads  suggesting that they were worshiped till they were taken away.