PUDUCHERRY: A team of the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID on Wednesday seized four antique metal idols of Hindu gods and goddesses from a house in Puducherry, suspected to have been stolen from a temple in Ariyalur in TN.
Based on credible information that the Nataraja idols which disappeared from a temple in an idol theft case registered under Kovagam police station in Ariyalur which they are investigating were hidden in a house in Puducherry, a special team led by Additional Superintendent of Police Rajaram along with Deputy Superintendent of Police Kathiravan and other police personnel of the Idol Wing came to Puducherry on the directions of the additional director general of police (ADGP), Abhay Kumar Singh, said Ponni, Superintendent of Police.
After a search, they found four antique idols made of metal in the house of Suresh living on Akkasamy Madam Street, Muthialpet and seized them. Two of them are Lord Nataraja idols, while the other two are of Goddess Amman. While the Nataraja idols are 3.5 feet high and 0.75 feet high, the Amman idols are 2.5 feet and 0.5 feet high, according to a release from the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID.
Police are investigating whether the idols are connected with the theft they are investigating and are the same ones that disappeared from the temple several years back. A detailed investigation would be done on whether the idols had been stolen from any other temple in Tamil Nadu, said Ponni. The seized idols will be submitted to the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kumbakonam, said Ponni.
Idol Wing CID police in Chennai registered a case over the theft of 12 stone idols at Balamabigai- Kailasanathar temple at Sullangudi in Ariyalur district in September 2020 and are investigating it. The case was filed based on the complaint from the temple executive officer, N Ramesh, who stated that the idols were stolen before 2002. The Idol Wing appointed deputy superintendent of police Kathiravan as the investigating officer in the case. Now it will investigate whether the idols seized are the ones that went missing from the temple 19 years back.
Meanwhile, family members of Suresh protested when he was taken in a vehicle by the police and also demanded the idols back since they were worshipping them at home. Subsequently the police let Suresh go and told the family to approach the court.
Earlier, in September 2020, a 20-member team of the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID led by Superintendent of Police R Sakthivel seized 74 pieces of antique idols from the ancestral house of Jean Paul Rajarathinam in Roman Rolland Street. The seizure was made in connection with idol thefts in Tamil Nadu. Of them, 14 were sculpted in stone and the remaining in metal worth several crores.