11th century idols of Raja Raja I, queen stolen 60 years ago traced to Ahmedabad

The team, led by IGP, AG Pon Manickavel, retrieved the idols within three months of a case being registered. After preliminary inquiry, a case of idol theft had been registered in the first week of March, 2018.

Idol Wing ASP Rajaram was entrusted with the investigation of the case by the IG. The police found that the idols were stolen by the then officers of the temple and had been sold to Gautam Sarabhai in Chennai through Rao Bahadur Srinivasa Gopalachari of Sarukkai village in Thanjavur district for several crores of rupees. Those interrogated by the Idol Wing team were more than 70 years old, sources said.

With these evidences, the team led by Pon Manickavel reached Ahmedabad on May 28 and on the next day, conducted inquiries at the Calico Museum of Sarabhai Foundation and found out that the idols on display in the museum were the ones stolen from the Big Temple.

Following this, the idols were handed over to the Idol wing team by the authorities of the Calico Museum on May 29. The team has already begun their return Chennai and are scheduled to reach Central railway station on Thursday evening.

According to the Idol Wing police, Raja Raja Cholan I idol (twoanda-half ft in height) is valued at more than Rs 100 crore and that of his queen Logamadeviyar (two ft in height) is valued at Rs 50 crore.