TRICHY: Idol wing CID police from central zone have seized an antique Nataraja idol weighing 26.8 kg from a Kerala man in Coimbatore.
The team led by ADSP G Balamurugan rounded up H Sivaprasad Namboothiri, 53, of Kalladathur post, Palakkad near Irugur junction on Palladam road on Sunday. The sleuths believe that the 85cm-tall and 71cm-wide idol could have been stolen more than 300 years ago from one of the temples in Tamil Nadu.
Balamurugan said at a press meet in Trichy on Monday that Sivaprasad admitted that he had decided to sell the idol through a broker for Rs 8 crore to meet his family needs. The seller showed them some documents claiming the idol dates back to 300 years, but these have to be verified. The man claimed to have got the idol from his father, said the ADSP. Sivaprasad has not yet been arrested pending inquiry.
The ADSP said the idol seizure required month-long surveillance after the wing head, DGP Jayanth Murali, got information that the man was attempting to peddle the Nataraja idol. Inspector Premasanthakumari, and sub-inspectors Pandiarajan and Rajesh of the Madurai unit of idol wing masqueraded as buyers and approached Sivaprasad.
Pandiarajan spoke to the seller over phone expressing his willingness to buy the idol but Sivaprasad was reluctant to share his address. After a month’s persuasion, Sivaprasad relented and brought the idol in a car when the team seized it. “Initially, the seller quoted Rs 10 crore for the idol. He settled for Rs 8 crore after the bargain,” said the ADSP.
The idol wing will write to Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department to assign the temple from which the idol would have been stolen, for further investigation, said a press statement. The ADSP said that idol wing CID has seized 105 metal idols, 31 stone idols, three emerald idols, one wooden idol and 69 handicraft artefacts so far this year.
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