The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing-CID seized a huge cache of ancient panchaloha and stone idols, which were stocked on the premises of a Puducherry businessman, on Thursday.
Armed with a search warrant from a court, R. Sakthivel, Superintendent of Police, Idol Wing, and 15 personnel began the search at 10 a.m. in the ancestral house of Jean Paul Rajarathinam on Roman Rolland Street, which is located opposite the Department of Art and Culture, Puducherry.
Of the total 74 idols, 60 are of antique bronze and 14 of stone, which were suspected to be stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu. They could be worth several crores of rupees.
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Rajarathinam is the brother of Marie Therese Anandi Vanina, 37, a French woman of Indian origin, whose house on Frederic Ozanam Street, Colas Nagar, Puducherry, was raided in 2016 by the Idol Wing and 11 antique bronze idols, worth several crores of rupees, were seized. Her husband Prabakaran was cited as an accused in the case and she was arrested by the Idol Wing-CID in August 2019 in Chennai on the charge of illegally exporting stolen antique idols and artefacts for several years from Puducherry to France.
A senior officer of the Idol Wing told The Hindu, “Following the dismissal of a case instituted by Rajarathinam in the Madras High Court claiming ownership of these idols, we formally obtained a warrant from a jurisdictional court and seized all these idols illegally stored here. These idols are meant only for worship in Hindu temples.”
According to the police officer, Rajarathinam claimed that his grandfather Joseph De Condappa was interested in collecting antique idols of various deities, and he had acquired them from Sambasiva Sthapathi between 1956 and the 1970s.
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Rajarathinam and Vanina had a running dispute over the idols. His grandfather had obtained a registration certificate from the competent authority under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.
“There were no relevant records to justify that they were bought legally, and had genuine ownership. One could not obtain antiquity certificates in the 1970s for idols which were bought or made between 1956 and the 1970s. The son of Sambasiva Sthapathi told us his father did not make these kind of idols,” the senior officer said.
Sources said all the recovered idols would be produced before a court in Kumbakonam. On the orders of the court, they would be restored to the temples to which they belong.