Pallava period Murugan idol stolen from TN in custody of US Homeland Security

CHENNAI: A stone idol of lord Murugan, believed to be over 1200 years old, which was reportedly stolen from a Shivatemple in Thachur village in Kallakurichi 23 years ago, has been located in the seizure list of US Homeland Security Investigations, claimed TN idol wing on Friday. As Idol wing CID sleuths had been continuously searching the stolen idols from the Website of abroad museums and art galleries, the Lord Murugan stone idol is traced after 23 years abroad.

After conducting a search on the websites, analysing the information in the old case files, and based on the available information, comparison of the photo of the Murugan idol with the idol in the list of confiscated idols of the Homeland Security Investigations, United States of America and found to correspond to a Murugan idol, a release from the Idol wing claimed.

After getting a seizures list from the HSI-USA, an action will be taken to retrieve the stone idol of Lord Murugan by initiating MLAT to our country from the United States of America through the Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs of the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu.

According to the Idol wing, the ancient Shiva temple belongs to the 7th or 8th century (later Pallava Period) in Thachur village and there were 13 stone idols in the temple. The temple was destroyed due to the invasions of Malikafoor and other Mughal Kings. It was disintegrated and buried in the soil, and 13 stone idols were scattered. In the year 1998, again they started to worship those idols. Some culprits who knew about this had stolen the standing idol of Lord Murugan in the year 2000 and nocomplaint was filed regarding the theft.

Recently, the idol wing received acomplaint and started looking for the stone idol and found that it was in the list of seized items by HSI in the US.