55 antique idols seized from art collector's house in Chennai

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Police's Idol Wing- CID (IWCID) seized 55 antique idols from the house of an art collector in Chennai, suspected to be stolen from temples across the country.

The idols were seized from the house of Shobha Durairajan, an art collector from Raja Annamalaipuram. Police said that Shoba was under Police radar for a few months now.

Director General of Police (DGP), Idol Wing CID, Shailesh Kumar said, "On Wednesday, we received a tip off that some persons are preparing and making parcels of antique stone idols. On suspicion that the Idols might be stolen from different temples, a special team conducted searches at the house.”

The woman allegedly told police that collecting antique idols was her hobby, and she had purchased the antique idols from idol smuggler, Deenadayalan of the Aparna Art Gallery between 2008 and 2015.

The Idol Wing officers suspect the idols to be from from AD 9th century or 10th century and have sought help from the Archeological Survey of India to identify the stolen idols.

Tamil Nadu police chief C Sylendra Babu who lauded the officers for their efforts told the media that 64 idols which were stolen and found their way to other countries are traced. "Idols located in countries like the USA, Australia, Singapore and England were successfully traced with the help of Indians living in the countries and steps are on to retrieve them. Singapore has agreed to return 16 idols to India," Babu said.

DGP Sylendra Babu said since the inception of the Idol Wing so far 1,541 stolen antique idols of bronze and stone were recovered and kept at 19 icon centres for safe custody. Armed police personnel are guarding them and CCTV surveillance is also provided, he said.

The DGP said, "We are taking all efforts to identify the temples which the recovered idols belong to. We are determined to restore those idols and keep them safe. We will investigate who was involved in the theft of antiques from the temples and nab them also. Some of the thefts were reported six or seven decades before. We have seized over 300 idols in the last two years and traced 64 idols abroad and also are taking steps to recover them.”