A senior police officer said that the smugglers were initially wary of the staff of the statue wing. (Representative)
Chennai:
It was like a scene from the movies. The idol wing in Tamil Nadu posed as potential buyers and seized an ancient statue of a woman from the royal Sethupati clan, which the smugglers tried to sell for Rs 2.30 crore.
The Idol Wing police on Friday said four persons were arrested and remanded before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kumbakonam, for attempting to sell the stolen idol.
Experts who examined the seized idol, which is said to be worth several crores in the international market, confirmed that it is an ancient statue of a royal lady of the Sethupati clan, who ruled the areas of Sivagangai district 400 years ago. did.
“An expert archaeologist has also pointed out that this is a very rare and exciting sculpture depicting the royal robes and items worn by the royal women of that era which will be extremely useful to the students and researchers of Tamil history.” Idol Wing Police said.
Director General of Police C Silendra Babu appreciated the Idol Wing CID Special Team for their efforts and announced a lucrative reward to the team for their excellent work.
Following information that an attempt was being made to sell an ancient idol by DGP, Idol Wing, K Jayantha Murali, Inspector General of Police, by one P Arumugaraj of Padukapathu, Sathankulam taluk in Thoothukudi district and M Kumaravel of Idaichivilai, Sathankulam taluk. , Idol Wing, Dinakaran and Superintendent of Police Ravi came up with an idea to disguise some employees as wealthy buyers and approach the sellers.
Thereafter, a special team under ADSP Malaisamy, Madurai Range, and Inspectors Kavita, Sub-Inspectors Karthikeyan, Pandiarajan and Rajesh, Special Sub-Inspectors Selvaraj and Chandankumar, and Head Constable Paramshivan convinced the vendors that the Idol Wing staff were wealthy. He was an idol collector.
DGP Murali said, “The idol vendors were initially wary of the idol wing staff and it took more than a week for the employees to win their trust.”
After this, the vendors agreed to show them the idol. They claimed that the idol was with one K Mustafa from Mutheru in Tiruchirappalli district and demanded proof of cash after negotiations to buy the idol for Rs 2.30 crore, he said.
After showing the evidence, they agreed to show the idol. Mustafa and two brokers agreed to bring the idol to a predetermined location at the old Trichy Road Junction (Kalapatti Road Junction). When Mustafa brought the idol wrapped in a black bag, the officials of the idol wing confiscated the idol and arrested the three men.
On enquiry, it was revealed that he had received the idol from one N Selvakumar of Kilamadam in Tirupattur taluk of Sivagangai district. After this the team reached Kilamdum and arrested him.
After being questioned by the police, Selvakumar said that the idol was in his possession for the past 12 years and it was left by his father, an astrologer, Nagarajan, who died five years ago. The latter obtained the idol from a coconut merchant in Sivagangai.
Selvakumar had met Mustafa and the brokers a few weeks ago and decided that the one foot high statue would cost several crores as it was an ancient piece. The DGP said he had asked Mustafa and others to sell the idol for Rs 2.30 crore.
From where the idol was stolen and investigation is on to trace the stole it.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)