NT Bureau : The Idol Wing CID of the Tamil Nadu Police is taking strenuous efforts to bring back the smuggled idols from foreign countries, Chief Minister M KStalin told the State Assembly. Moving the demand for grants for Police and Fire services department, he said in this regard, after giving Letters Rogatary to USA and Australia, two
idols from USA (Standing Parvati and Sri Devi, Varadharaja Perumal) and one idol from Australia (Child Sambandar) have been repatriated to India and is now with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), New Delhi.
Similarly due to continuous follow up, 7 antique idols (Natarajar, Kankalamurti, Nandikeswarar, Siva and Parvati and a Pair of Dwarabalakar) were repatriated from USA through Diplomatic channels recently and is now with ASI, New Delhi.
‘All these idols will be brought to Tamil Nadu and handed over to the temples concerned’, Stalin said and added that further Letters Rogatary are under preparation to repatriate 31 antique idols from USA, Australia, Singapore and England.
The Chief Minister said recently more than 850 seized idols were shifted for safe custody to Government Museum, Egmore, Icon centre at Tiruvottiyur and ‘Police Museum’ at Egmore in the city.Ā Some of the seized idols, which depict Indian Culture and tradition have been displayed at the Police Museum, Chennai for the public view, Stalin said.
In the current year, 30 FIRs were registered in IW CID Units. In those cases a total of126 idols/artefacts were recovered and 35 accused were arrested and remanded.
A total of 80 Non-Bailable Warrants have been executed during the year 2021. At present an exclusive Special Team has been formed at IW- CID, Headquarters to identify the antique idols and artefacts located abroad. Dilapidated temples housing antique idols are being identified and enumerated in order to take safety measures, he said.
At present, 342 cases are being handled by this unit. Apart from that 80 cases are to be transferred from districts, he said.
The Chief Minister said three dimensional video images of approximately 300 metal/stone idols which were recovered by IWCID Unit have been recorded with the active support of IIT, Madras and Hindu College, Tirunelveli as a pilot project. After completion of the entire project, the same will be uploaded on the IWCID Website, he said, adding, it was also proposed to establish a high level committee comprising of officers from IWCID, HR & CE and ASI to ensure documentation of all idols of all temples of Tamilnadu for their improved safety and security.