: Reopening an 11-year-old case, officers of the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police have arrested two antique dealers — Vallabh Prakash (80) and his son Aditya Prakash (40) — who were involved in the smuggling of antique idols through the city and other routes, notably Nepal.
A.G. Pon Manickavel, Inspector General of Police, Idol Wing, told The Hindu , “Hailing from Nepal, Vallabh Prakash has been running the Indo-Nepal Gallery on Beach Road, Mumbai, since 1959, and has been sending the stolen antique idols from here to various places including Subash Chandra Kapoor’s art gallery in New York. Most of the stolen idols from the temples in Tamil Nadu were smuggled through him.”
“We have secured him and his son from Mumbai after monitoring their movement for a long time,” he added. The arrest is linked to the theft of 13 idols from the Sri Narambunatha Swamy Temple, Pazhavoor, Tirunelveli district. The Narambunatha Swamy Temple dates back to the 6th century and was built by king Veera Marthanda Varma.
On the evening of June 18, 2005, thieves, posing as pilgrims, entered the temple and took away 13 metal idols – Ananda Natarajar, Sivagami Amman, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Manickavasagar, Narumbunathar, Vinayagar, Valli, Krishnan, Bala Vinayagar, Veilukatha Amman, Komati Amman, Asthrathevar and Subramaniaswamy – and fled. Based on a complaint from the temple’s Executive Officer, K. Velusamy, a case was registered at the Palavoor police station. A year after the theft, the case was transferred to the Idol Wing–CID, Chennai, which narrowed down on Arunachalam, Shahjahan, Murugan alias Saudi Murugan, Shakthi Mohan and Arumugam, belonging to Madurai and surrounding areas, as suspects.
According to investigators, Shakti Mohan, a small-scale gold merchant, and his acquaintance Arumugam, a pickpocket, both from Madurai, stole the idols from the temple believing them to be of gold. But as they tried to get away, Arumugam’s motorcycle met with an accident. So, with the help of Balaji, who is Sakthi Mohan’s son, and Saudi Murugan, they hid the idols in a pond.
They also broke some idols including that of Ananda Natarajar, seeking gold. Disappointed at not finding any gold, they sold the remaining idols to one Dhinakaran, a merchant in Karaikudi.
Deenadayalan of Chennai, who was arrested in Chennai a few months ago, then purchased the idols from Dhinakaran. Only five idols including Ananda Natrajar and Manickavasagar were sent through Vallabh Prakash to Subash Kapoor’s gallery in New York, while the idol of Karaikal Ammaiyar went to Spain and two others to a woman who was reportedly “close to Subash Kapoor”.
An officer said, “In London, a suspect made an attempt to fix the hand of Ananda Natarajar which was broken down after it was stolen. The idol was featured in a catalogue published by Kapoor with a tag of nearly $25,00,000. After tightening of the noose, the smugglers decided to bring back the five idols, all worth Rs. 200 crore.”
In the course of their investigation, the Idol Wing recently arrested Vallivittan, another key accused, who was not only involved in stealing the idols and but had also reportedly murdered Shakthi Mohan.
However, the case was closed a few months ago, with a few locals cited as accused. Noticing several missing links in the case, Mr. Pon Manickavel reopened the investigation and managed to arrest the suspects including the duo.
