A couple of weeks ago, senior staff members of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department threatened to go on long leave, claiming they were fed up with “action” taken against their colleagues. They objected to the “bullying” and “arm-twisting” they were being subjected to, and claimed they were “being made to give confessions implicating co-workers.”
The department’s workforce, comprising around 1,000 persons, including 11 regional joint commissioners, 28 assistant commissioners and 300-odd executive officers, have been shaken to the core by the arrest of senior colleagues on what they claim are “impossible allegations” of misappropriation of gold collected for the making of utsava murthis (icons used in processions) and collusion with idol thieves.
- Risk Assessment Report gave a district-wise break-up of the number of idol theft cases registered
- The report was sent to SPs of 30 districts in the State in 2013
- The Madras High Court formed a Special Investigation Team in July last year
- In the year since the team’s formation, 12 crimes have been detected, 20 idols recovered, including the famous idols of Raja Raja Chola and Lokamadevi, and more than 40 persons arrested
The hunt for missing idols and figurines from temples spanning several continents has, over the last few months, turned into a bitter clash between two arms of the government – the Idol Wing of the Crime Branch CID and the HR&CE Department.
Things came to a head in end-September when the Idol Wing of the Crime Branch CID arrested M. Kavitha, Additional Commissioner (Thirupani) of the HR&CE Department, on suspicion of involvement in the misappropriation of funds and gold collected towards making two new idols at the Sri Ekambareswar Temple in Kancheepuram. At least one former commissioner, an additional commissioner, a couple of executive officers and a senior sthapathi , who is a Padma Shri awardee, have been arrested and are out on conditional bail. Additional commissioner (general) and a leading industrialist have recently obtained anticipatory bail in matters pertaining to thirupani (works) carried out in temples at various points of time.
Early arrests questioned
D. Nagasaila, advocate and human rights activist of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, questioned the necessity of arresting these officials at such an early stage in the case. “The Supreme Court has time and again said that people should not be arrested for the sake of arresting. Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code was brought in to curtail abuse by the police. The additional commissioner (HR&CE) does not have any sanctioning authority. She only pushes files to the commissioner. There is no requirement to arrest a person unless they don’t cooperate with the investigation or are tampering with evidence,” she said, adding that these issues could have been dealt with at the department level. “These involve files and papers that are with them. Before you arrest someone you can summon them and enquire into the matter. The arrest can be even done after the chargesheet has been filed, trial conducted and the person found guilty,” Ms. Nagasaila added.
The manner in which a few persons are being targeted is being questioned by former HR&CE officials. “The officer who is said to have collected the gold from devotees to make the icon of Somaskandar at the Ekambareswarar temple in Kancheepuram continues to carry out his duties. If they say the arrested officials and those related to the thiruppani works are involved in selling idols and icons, let the police find the idols first. Industrialist Venu Srinivasan has spent several crores on temples, including the Nava Tirupati sthalams where even the surrounding villages have been given a new lease of life. The Srirangam utsava idol actually requires four people to carry it. So allegations of idols going missing are baseless. What is required is proper investigation by a competent agency,” said an office-bearer of the HR&CE Officers Association.
From 1920 to 2017, a total of 2,145 icons and 478 idols have gone missing from 803 temples. These numbers are based on complaints preferred by temple officials to the police. Of this only around 60 have been recovered, and 18 have been restored to temples. Around 390 idols belonging to 33 temples remain non-traceable. “We don’t see the Idol Wing members going behind these idols. They are only taking up cases in which some allegations are made by individuals, who seem to have personal agendas. We are not saying do not investigate. These allegations have to be thoroughly verified before taking action,” said a retired HR&CE official.
Crossing the line
Many are of the view that the Idol Wing is overstepping its brief. The wing was formed in 1983, and in 2000 it was brought under the control of the Economic Offences Wing. G. Thilakavathi, retired IPS officer who headed the wing for some time, explained that its primary functions were to investigate cases of theft of idols and antiques exceeding a value of ₹5 lakh, idol theft cases referred to it by the State government, coordinate the investigation of important idol theft cases and collect intelligence about the nefarious activities of antique dealers and art collectors.
“We have traced idols that left our shores and travelled to many places in coordination with several agencies including Scotland Yard. It takes a lot of patience to trace and get an idol back to the temple. There are still many idols and icons lying in the vault of the wing. Bronzes are usually stolen by people thinking they will contain a lot of gold but when they check using the services of a goldsmith, they don’t even find traces. They then would leave the idols in places like railway stations. We have recovered icons from Arakkonam railway station, Chengalpattu tank and even Koyambedu bus terminus,” she recalled. “The Idol Wing cannot work on its own; it should report to senior officers,” a former senior police officer said, adding, “unnecessary arrests are happening and the court is not questioning them.”
The HR&CE Department has been demanding a fair probe into cases of missing idols. “If there are officials involved, we would be the last to protect them. We are dealing with public property here and cannot be careless. All that we want is a proper probe into the thefts of ancient idols. Issues pertaining to the making of recent idols would be looked into and action taken if need be,” said HR&CE Commissioner R. Jaya.
(Inputs from S. Sundar and Tilak Chander from Madurai and R. Rajaram from Tiruchi)
