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| The idol of Bogasakti Amman.news9live.com |
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| 1000 year old antique idol, Swamimali. thenewsminute.com |
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| rediff.com/ |
The recovered idols are: Goddess Bogasakti Amman, weighing 200 kg, 2 idols of Buddha, in seated and standing postures, Andal and Lord Vishnu - all said to be over 1,000 years old. In addition the idols Goddess Sivakami and Ramana Maharshi and of Nataraja (100 years old).
These rare idols on the international market would fetch a bundle - several crores of rupees. On account of their monetary value, the culprits laid their hands on them, stole them carefully and now got caught in the police net. A relative of mine upon reading this piece of sensational news in the media said in Tamil, ''Deivam Nindre Kollum'' (''Mills of god grind slowly, but surely'').
The TN idol wing sleuths carefully tailed the criminals and headed Swamimalai after their unsuccessful search at the Kodambakkam residence of G Masilamani, a well-known idol mafia in Chennai; the American mafia crime families like Carl Gambino or Lucchese may take a lesson or two from him and other like Ranbir Shah. Masilamani was named in the idol wing theft case in Sivakanchi, The investigating team landed on his hideout in Swamimalai on August 9 with a search warrant. The antiquity of the idols Goddess Bhogasakti is based on ASI- January 12, 2017 and those of Vishnu and Buddha idols vide ASI dated October 3, 2011. The smugglers cleverly hid the valuable idols in the closet. Antiquity certificates were found during the search with which the criminals sell them abroad. That how did they get the clearance certificate department from the govt. agency is a moot question.
In many idol theft cases pertaining to raids, lack of documentary evidence to prove the ownership or origin of the idols has been a road block for the sleuths and they have put in extra hard work to find out the temple from which it was stolen. To be on the safe side the team seized the stolen idols in the presence of witnesses. The smuggled idols would normally pass through several hands before the final destination, hence tracing their origin is a difficult and time-consuming one. An FIR was registered in Kumbakonam based on a complaint by an inspector of Idol Wing CID
Tit--Bits:
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| Chennai, TN, theft of stone idol. rediff.com/news |
The idol wing CID of Tamil Nadu police way back toward the end of September 2018 recovered as many as 89 antique items including idols, artefacts and temple pillars from the house of a business man in Chennai, apparently all stolen from temples. In this connection the police Dheenadayalan, an alleged idol smuggler for his criminal activities. The team was led by famous police officer AG Pon Manickavel, whose specialty was caching the criminals involved in idol theft.
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| recovery of 89 idols, Sept. 2018.deccanchronicle.com |
Above image: September 28, 2016 Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is believed to have been perhaps the biggest haul of antique idols, stolen from the historical temples of Tamil Nadu. It was led by ever efficient IG Pon Manickavel of the TN Idol Wing. A tip-off from idol smuggler Dheendayalan led to the big grey shark- Ranvir Shah. The team recovered from his residence in Chennai 89 items worth over Rs 100 crore. Supposedly Ranbir was a garment exporter and founder of Prakriti foundation. Apparently using them as the front, behind in the dark shadow, he was running a network of smuggling operation of antique temple idols for which Tamil Nadu is quite famous.
