Tamil Nadu idol wing police recover 1,000-year-old Chola Dynasty idols that were stolen and sold to Ahmedabad museum

In a battle that has spanned over 50 years, the Tamil Nadu police's idol wing reached Ahmedabad on Tuesday and took two idols belonging to the Chola Dynasty from the Calico Museum run by the Sarabhai Foundation. The police claim that both the 1,000-year-old idols of Raja Raja Chola and his wife Lokmadevi were stolen 50 years ago and sold to the foundation which put it on display at the museum.

A team led by Inspector General of Police Idol Wing Pon Manickavel will return with the idols on Thursday. The police has estimated both idols to be worth over Rs 150 crore. The Chola King’s idol is worth over Rs 100 crore and the other figurine holds a market value of Rs 50 crore.

In March 2018, the Tanjore police’s idol wing filed an FIR against unknown persons over the stolen idols whose missing whereabouts were not reported to the police for several decades.

The case was registered based on the petition moved by former Hindu Religious and Endowment Board Minister VV Swaminathan seeking to trace the missing idols of Raja Raja Chola and his royal consort from the Big Temple’s big safe.

The investigation by the police revealed that officials had hidden the fact about the stolen idols. “In our investigation, we found out that over 50 years ago higher temple officials had stolen the two idols and sold them to Gautham Sarabhai, who was at the time based in Chennai,” a police officer said. The officer said that all those who were questioned in the case where above the age of 70.

The police reached Ahmedabad on Tuesday visited the Calico Museum, which has been funded by the Sarabhai Foundation. They conducted their investigation following which they recovered the two figurines.

Inscriptions in the temple speak of a total of 66 bronze icons having been donated during the time of Emperor Raja Raja Chola I. But most of them are missing. Some of the other prominent icons missing from the temple include golden Kolkai Thevar, golden Kshetra Balagar, silver Vasudevan, a huge Ardhanareeswarar, fur bronze idols donated by Kundavai Nachiyar, two Uma Maheswari icons, a statue of Vanavan Madevi, her husband Sundara Cholar. Police said that they have already started looking into the whereabouts of other missing icons as well.