The Idol Wing CID(IW CID) on Thursday arrested three men who allegedly possessed antique idols and attempted to sell them. They recovered the idols of Manickavasakar and Vinayakar from them.
The officers of the Idol Wing CID received information that a broker, K. Balamurugan, 36, of Mudukkankulam village of Virudhunagar district, was attempting to sell antique idols for several crores of rupees. Following this, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Idol Wing-CID, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, and Inspector General of Police, R.Dhinakaran, immediately deputed a special team to trace the man.
The police said the officers of the special team established contact with Balamurugan over phone and introduced themselves as idol enthusiasts and collectors of antiquities. Initially, the broker was reluctant to divulge the information about the idol and later shared the image of Manickavasakar idol. After meeting with Balamurugan in Kariapatti, Virudhunagar district, the police team quoted ₹2 crore for the idol.
After agreeing to the price, he said one of his friends Prabakaran in Chennai was in possession of Vinayakar idol. After much persuasion, Balamurugan agreed to come to Chennai to finalise the deal with his associate also, said the police.
The police officers in plainclothes reached Gummidipoondi on Thursday morning to a place selected by Balamurugan. After some time, the two friends of Balamurugan - M. Prabhakaran, 40, of Ambattur and C. Manikandan, Kariapatti, arrived at the place with the idol hidden in a box. The trio and police personnel were sitting in a secluded place to negotiate the price of Vinayakar idol which was quoted for ₹4 crore. At that time, Deputy Superintendent of Police U. Muthuraja and his team of personnel entered the place and arrested the trio.
Inspector General of Police Dhinakaran said preliminary investigation revealed that the two idols were stolen from a temple near Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai district. ADGP Yadav said, “ On verifying the characteristics of these idols with our experts, we have confirmed that they belong to 18th century and the seized antiques are worth around ₹2 crore in the international market. Efforts are being taken to trace the provenance of seized idols. Investigation is on to find out any other accused involved in this case.”
