Major bust for Tamil Nadu police: Unique 500-year-old Lord Shiva idol recovered from smugglers

Two persons were nabbed with a unique 500-year-old green stone statue of Lord Shiva by the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police on Tuesday. The recovery and arrests happened near Poonamallee town after the police received a tip-off that some people were trying to sell an antique idol.

Police then set up a trap by pretending to be wealthy antique collectors interested in buying the statue for Rs 25 crore. They lured the suspects, identified as Tamil Nadu natives Bhakthavachalam (46) and S. Bakiyaraj (42), into arrest.

After the police pretended to be wealthy buyers and were able to successfully negotiate a price tag for the idol, they convinced the sellers to show the piece. The two took police to a closet where the antique was hidden, which was the police then seized and arrested the duo. Photos of the idol were shared on Twitter by IPS officer Jayanth Murali, who is the DGP, Idol Wing. 

Kudos to my team headed by ADSP Rajaram for seizing a 500 year old antique exquisitely sculpted Greenstone Shivalingam idol worth several crores with Nagabharanam.The HOPF has announced a reward of 25k to the team 

— (@jayantmuraliips) May 17, 2022

As per investigators, the 500-year-old idol is a unique depiction with five faces of Lord Shiva and is said to originally belong to a temple in Nepal. As per the TN Police Idol Wing, the idol’s smuggling involved others apart from the two people arrested.

The Idol Wing of the state police has been successful in recovering several such idols from smugglers and antique dealers. It has also restored many idols in temples in Tamil Nadu after tracking them down as they were smuggled overseas.

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(With inputs from IANS)