India News | Two Held for Bid to Sell 3 Idols in TN

Chennai, Dec 13 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID sleuths foiled an attempt to sell three antique idols and arrested two persons for attempting to peddle the idols in Manamadurai, the police said on Tuesday.

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Following a tip off, the Idol Wing team posed as prospective buyers and made a bid to purchase the idols offered for Rs 60 lakh each.

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"The IW CID approached the seller masquerading as wealthy idol buyers on December 10, but the seller insisted on seeing the cash before displaying the idols," IW DGP K Jayanth Murali, said.

The team promised to return with the money the next day at Manamadurai taluk of Sivaganga district. And when the seller appeared with the idols of Sridevi, Bhoodevi and Karuppasamy the next morning, inspector Sathya Prabha and her team seized the three idols and arrested him.

The second person, who had sourced the idols, was arrested from Madurai.

Following a complaint from the inspector, a case has been registered against two men involved in sourcing the idols and for clandestinely attempting to sell them.

"The seized antiques would be produced for inspection before the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain their antiquity. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department has been asked to assign the idols to the temples from where they might have got stolen," a release said.

Probe is on to find out the source from where the idols were acquired.

The DGP and other officials lauded the inspector and team for their excellent work and announced digital medal/NFT and cash awards in recognition of their efforts.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)