Inspector General (Idol Wing) Pon Manickavel on Saturday inspected idols that were recovered after being stolen from a temple at Pazhavur 13 years ago.
Thirteen panchaloha idols from the temple were stolen in 2005, and were later recovered including those of Nataraja, Sivakami Ambal, Karaikal Ammaiyar, Manickavasagar, Krishnar, Asthiradevar, Veyilkatha Amman, Gomathi Amman and Subramanyar. Nine of them had been recovered earlier, while four others were recovered recently.
A team of officials, including researchers from IIT, inspected the idols. It came to light that arms on two of the idols, Nataraja and Ambal, had been removed and welded with fake ones, Mr. Pon Manickavel said.
Cases have been registered against 18 persons in connection with the case. Ten of them, including Subhash Chandra Kapoor, Vallabh Prakash, Aditya Prakash and Deenadayalan have been arrested in connection with several idol smuggling cases.
Six of them were foreigners, the police were on the lookout for two others.
On July 7, Paramadurai, 42, of Theni district was arrested in Chennai in connection with the case.
