Antique idols seized from Dakshinachitra, ECR

CHENNAI: Sleuths from Idol Wing of Tamil Nadu police recovered two Chola period antique idols from Dakshinachitra, a living-history museum on ECR , Muttukadu near Chennai on Thursday.

The idols were donated by a accused in idol wing case in the year 2012.

"It was found that G Masilamani , (69), of Swamimalai, Tanjore who is an accused in a case of misappropriation at Sivakanchi Temple and search on his premises recently in Swamimalai yielded eight antique metal idols, had gifted two idols of Veenadharar and Rishabh Dhar to the museum in 2012," a press release from idol wing head DGP Jayanth Murali , said on Friday.

Dakshinachitra is located 25 kilometres south of Chennai and is managed by the Madras Craft Foundation.

A search party composed of DSP Muthuraja, DSP Mohan and other was formed and deputed to conduct a search operation on Thursday. During the search, several antique idols were found on display at the museum. When the records were checked, the two idols of Veenadharar and Rishabh Dhar, donated by Masilamani, found to have no documents. When the papers were shown to an expert, the opinion given pointed to them being antique belonging to the Chola period, officer said.

As the Museum did not have any documents, accused Masilamani was contacted for papers concerning the two idols, and the reply of Masilamani was in the negative. When this was pointed out to the museum authorities, Ashok Kumar , manager of the Dakshina Chitra decided to return the idols accepting that they were in illegal possession of antiques and gave a complaint against Masilamani for donating illegal idols, which he believed would have been stolen from temples.

The museum requested the Idol Wing to seize the idols. And the search party seized the idols.