HYDERABAD: Every once in sixmonths, an antique is stolen and sold on the
black market
in the city , say police officials.Worse, there are close to 100 more such idols which have been untraceable.
High-ranking police officials say that most of these thefts happen in temples where the sanctum sanctorum holds an old idol. “The most commonly stolen idols are the Panchaloha idols as they fetch a handsome amount on the black market.Usually , it is foreigners who have an interest in these idols, and they are shipped abroad,“ DCP B
Limba Reddy
, told TOI.
He further added that the caretakers of these idols, lodge acomplaint the next-day , which he presumed was too late, as the idol would have been shipped by then. Though many of these idols go missing from both
Andhra Pradesh and Telanganaevery month, many cases go unreported.
“Usually , the thieves smuggle out the idols under the pretext of being a researcher or antique collector and forge the required documents,“ said a police official from the south zone, requesting anonymity .
Incidentally, even the
National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), noted that 4,000 artefacts were stolen from Indian temples between 2010 and 2012.
When contacted, officials from the Telangana State Department of Archeology and Museums said that there was no instance of antique theft, but they did not refrain from adding that they were corroborating data of stolen artefacts, since 2014.
Senior officials from the department say the police hands over the stolen idols to the department for inspection. “Once we verify the stolen property as an antique they are left with us. During tests, if we learn that it is just an act of forgery , the police files a cheating case against the thief,“ said a senior official from the archaeology department. According to officials, there are close to 100 precious idols that date back to over 300400 years that have been dubbed untraceable.
“There is a network of such thieves in the country . They smuggle an antique from one part of the country and sell it in another. To stay under the radar, the crooks prepare a copy of antique and acquire a nonantiquity tag from the
Archaeological Survey of India
. They then swap the idols and ship it out of the country ,“ said the police official.
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