7 antique idols and 2 paintings seized in Chennai

CHENNAI: The idol wing sleuths on Thursday seized as many as 7 antique Chola era idols and two antique Tanjore paintings worth several crores of rupees from a premise in RA Puram , Chennai.

The seized idols are Krishna bronze statue, Parvati bronze statue, Buddha statue, Parvati bronze statue in sitting position, Goddess bronze statue,

Tara bronze statue and Buddha bronze statue.

The painting seized are Balakrishna painting with glass frame, and Krishna and Yashala paintings with glass frame.

According to the idol wing officials the team located the place last week but couldn't take action as the owner of the idols was living in the USA. The idol wing team established contact with the owner. It gave him a week to submit the documents to prove the provenance, antiquity status and registration papers if the idols were antique. The owner confessed that his parents were in possession of the idols even before he was born and therefore was clueless about the origin of the idols. The owner, however, promised to furnish the documents in the time given to him. When the owner failed to produce the papers, he was given additional time. The owner of the idols, realising possessing antique idols without provenance and registration was illegal of his own accord, decided to hand them over to the wing. On Thursday the owner of the idols requested the Idol wing to take possession of the idols. Some of the idols had markings and slots for fixing them on temple palanquins for carrying them during festive occasions. The fact that they are antique idols probably stolen from temples and sold to the present possessor and the absence of proper papers to reveal their provenance makes illegal possessions liable for confiscation. Therefore, the Idol Wing CID seized the illegal idols in the presence of witnesses on Thursday evening.