IDOL WING SLEUTHS RETRIEVE A STOLEN IDOL FROM AUSTRALIA
A Hanuman @ Anjaneyar idol burgled from Varadharaju Perumal temple, Velur village, Ariyalur district on 9.04.2012 night was registered as a case on 10.4.2012 in Sendurai PS Cr. No 90/2012. ADSP Tr Rajaram, while browsing the website of www.christy.com, came across the stolen idol of the Hanuman in the aforesaid website. The idol’s image was downloaded and sent to the French Institute of Pondicherry. The Institute authorities, after careful examination, confirmed that the stolen idol matched with the idol auctioned by Christie’s. Subsequently, for further confirmation, the image was sent to Mr Nagasamy, Special Officer and Incharge Director, Archaeological Survey of India, requesting an expert opinion. The experts who examined the idols confirmed it as a stolen Hanuman. So, Tamilnadu Idol Wing initiated Mutual Legal Assistance for Repatriation of the stolen antique idol from Australia with the assistance of U.S.Homeland Security. The model was reportedly sold in Christie’s auction for $ 37500/.
Today,( 22/02/22) at the Indian High Commission, Canberra, Australia, Australian Chargé d’Affaires Michael Goldman returned the 500-year old stolen Indian statue to Indian High Commissioner Mr Manpreet Vohra. The Tamilnadu Idol Wing, Indian law enforcement agents and the Department of Homeland Security worked together to recover the statue, which had been looted from a temple in Velur village, Ariyalur District, Tamilnadu and sold to Christie’s Auction House in New York and acquired by a buyer in Australia. Christie’s Auction House and the buyer in Australia were initially unaware of the statue’s stolen origins. But, after being alerted by the Tamilnadu Idol wing, Australian authorities cooperated fully with the U.S Homeland Security and India’s law enforcement agencies to recover the stolen artefact. The Chargé d’Affaires of Australia while handing over the stolen idol expressed his appreciation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Indian law enforcement agents for their recovery of the looted idol and cooperation to fight illegal trade in cultural artefacts. The idol is likely to take one month to reach India. After the Tamilnadu Idol Wing receives the model, it will be restored to the temple from the temple where it was stolen. We are extremely grateful to Mr Vijay Kumar , the officials of the Archaeological Survey of India , Ministry of External affairs , The Department of Homeland Security, USA and the Australian Government for their valuable help in retrieving the stolen idol.
Dr.K. Jayanth Murali is an IPS Officer belonging to 1991 batch. He is borne on Tamil Nadu cadre. He lives with his family in Chennai, India. He is currently serving the Government of Tamil Nadu as Additional Director General of Police, Idol Wing CID.
