TN's Rs 34 crore worth idol traced to USA

CHENNAI: Idol wing has despatched legal documents claiming the legal ownership of Tamilnadu state over the bronze idol of Kalasamharamurthy aka Tripurantaka Murthy that was stolen over 50 years ago from Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Temple, Muthammal Puram Village, Orathanadu in Thanjavur.

According to the Idol wing officials the criminals had stolen the idol by replacing it with a fake replica. The idol wing traced the 82.3cm long stolen idol to Christies.com. According to the website, the price realised for the stolen idol was USD 4,350,000 (approximately over Rs.34 crore )

According to a complaint from G. Suresh, Executive Officer, HR &CE, Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Temple, submitted in November 2020

the original idol had been replaced by a fake replica some 50 years ago.

A detailed internet search with the help of images of the idol obtained from the French Institute of Pondicherry the Idol Wing was able to locate an idol looking similar to the missing idol on the website of Christie’s.com (an auction company engaged in selling antiquities artefacts).

After obtaining experts' opinion and confirming that the idol auctioned by Christie is the one stolen from the temple, the Idol Wing CID was duty bound to take necessary steps for the retrieval of the antique, noted wing's head DGP Jayanth Murali.

"So the wing has prepared and submitted legal papers of request to the USA for repatriation of the antique Kalasamhara Murthi bronze idol, which is currently, in the USA, under the existing Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the USA concerning Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters" the officer noted.