The Idol Wing CID, a special unit under the Economic Offences Wing of the Tamil Nadu State police, has been struggling due to inadequate manpower for quite some time now.
The special unit, which has shown recovery of many stolen idols of antique value to the tune of over ₹100 crore per year, is yet to have the required strength of officers in the ranks of Additional Superintendent of Police and Deputy Superintendent of Police for investigating cases that, on many occasions, go beyond the country's borders.
Many of those serving now have been redeployed from other wings of State police on deputation. The present strength of the unit has come down to less than 135 from 350, some two years ago.
The Idol Wing is functioning under the control of an Additional Director General of Police and primarily investigates cases of idol thefts that are declared as over 100 years old antiques; idol thefts having State and inter-State ramifications, and idols valued at ₹5 lakh and more.
Since most of the serving personnel in the idol wing have been deputed from other wings, often, they are reverted to their parent wings, which jeopardise the ongoing investigations in many cases, says an officer requesting anonymity.
Only one SP is in charge, who also has been shifted from here on promotion. The DIG post remains vacant. “Since there is no permanent staff on duty, the workflow is affected. In these cases, investigating officers will have to do voluminous documentation, apart from regular investigation, interrogation, seizure and arrest. In cases of arrest, the investigation officer will have to produce the accused or idol at the special court in Kumbakonam, which is far away from the headquarters. It is time-consuming and will take two to three days to finish the usual judicial processes of remanding and returning from there," a senior officer said.
The idol wing officers also are overburdened with correspondences with the other arms of government like Union Ministries of External Affairs, Culture and Art and Archaeological survey of India, Indian missions and art galleries abroad.
The Central Zone in Tiruchi, which is culturally rich, has only 19 personnel. Kumbakonam has 24, Salem three and Coimbatore four. The headquarters at Chennai has just 18. Still, the wing could record seizures in the last six months. The idol wing, which restores the State's looted antiques, needs strong manpower, say officers.
