CHENNAI: Days after opening an investigation into the burglary of five idols from a Chola-period temple that occurred 51 years ago, the Idol Wing CID police now have traced a Samandhar idol which was listed for auction by Bonham's auction house, in New York.
Originally, the burglary was committed on May 12, 1971, in the Nadanapureshwarar Sivan temple in Thandanthottam for which a complaint was given to the Nachiyarkoil police station the next day. No FIR was registered until 2019 for the theft of the five antique idols from the temple.
In 2019, K.Vasu, a temple trustee in his complaint said he had seen the idols when they were in the temple for public worship and did not see them after 1971. He had given details about the names and dimensions of each of these five stolen idols - Samabandhar, Krishna Kalinga Narthanam, Ayyanar, Agasthiyar and a Parvati idol. out of which, the Parvati idol was traced to the centre on August 8.
There was no image of the Sambandar idol available either with the complainant or in the temple records and Inspector Indira of Idol Wing said she thought she reached the end.
"Therefore, the investigating officer decided to check if the Indo-French Institute Pondicherry, a repository of some of Tamilnadu's cultural treasures, had any images of the missing idols. When the investigation officer started searching for the idols of Nadanapureshwarar Sivan Temple in Thandanthottam, Indira stumbled on the image of the Sambandar Idol, which had gone missing from Nadanapureshwarar Sivan Temple," said K Jayant Murali, DGP, Idol Wing.
The special team of Idol Wing started searching for the Sambandar idol in various museums and auction houses across the world.
"We found the idol on display at the website of Christie's Auction house. It's an Auction Company based in the USA engaged in selling antique artefacts. The experts with pictures of idols from Auction House and IFP, confirmed that both images were the same," said Inspector Indira of Idol Wing.
The idol wing has now sent a letter of request to the USA for repatriation of the Idol under the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the USA concerning Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The Idol Wing said that the 34.3 cm tall copper-alloy idol from the Chola period, around the 12th century, is valued at 242,500 (roughly Rs 1,93,80,155).
Jayant Murali said, "the Idol wing hopes to retrieve the Idol and restore it to the Nadanapureshwarar Sivan Temple in Thandanthottam, Kumbakonam, under the UNESCO treaty soon."