CBI investigates retired IG Pon Manickavel in idol theft case
The investigation follows a complaint lodged by Idol wing DSP Kadhar Basha who was arrested and imprisoned in 2019 for his involvement in the idol theft case.
Pon Manickavel (Dailythanthi)
CHENNAI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Saturday conducted inquiries with retired police officer, AG Ponn Manickavel at his residence in Palavakkam in connection with the Central agency's probe into the alleged role by Ponn Manickavel in aiding idol smugglers Subash Kapoor and Deenadayalan.
A team of five officers reached the house of retired Inspector General of Police (IGP) on Saturday morning and conducted inquiries with him for over seven hours.
In 2022, CBI's Delhi unit took over investigations in the first information report (FIR) of the Idol wing-CID registered in 2017, in which a former DSP Kader Batcha and two other police personnel attached to the idol wing were accused of indulging in robbing idols and selling them for Rs 15 lakh through dealer Deendayalan.
Kader Batcha moved the Madras High Court, seeking to quash the case against him and alleged that he was falsely implicated in the case by then Idol wing IGP, Ponn Manickavel, supposedly to aid Deenadayalan. The case against Kader Batch was that, in 2008, when he was serving as an Inspector, he forcibly took three idols from a dealer under gunpoint and sold them to Deenadayalan. The idols were stolen from a temple in 2006.
In his petition before the Madras high court, Batcha argued that Ponn Manickavel registered the case against him to help both Deendayalan and international idol smuggler Subash Kapoor escape, after which the HC directed that CBI probe into the allegations.
Speaking to mediapersons after the CBI enquiry, the retired police officer said that he has been fighting for retrieving stolen idols even after his retirement and said that the CBI probe is a misdirection to derail his fight. "All the accused are ganging up and are trying to stop me from fighting for my cause so that they can resume their business. My religion is not Hinduism. It is service to the victims of crime, " Manickavel said.
