Chennai: The Tamil Nadu police had detected that three more idols worth nearly Rs 7.5 crore were sold by Subash Kapoor to the National Gallery of Australia, but the official custodian of temples in the state, the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE), is yet to identify from where and when the idols were stolen.
The three idols were stolen and sold to the Australian national gallery by Subash Kapoor using his vast network of temple raiders. Police officials in all the six commissionerates and 32 districts were asked to find out if there were any old reports about stolen idols.
We have been regularly asking the HR&CE to seek details of idols, including, Sambandar dancing as a baby (Kuzhanthai Natana Sambandar), Pryathankira idol and idols of two Dwarapalakas, said a source in the idol wing of the state police. So far there has been no known report on these missing idols from any Tamil Nadu temples.
The idol Kuzhanthai Natana Sambandar is valued around Rs 4.6 crore, the Praythankira idol’s is estimated to be worth around Rs 1 crore while Dwarakapalakas were valued at around Rs 2 crore.
The Idol wing police believe temple priests may have failed to inform either the police or the HR & CE officials about the missing idols for fear of repercussions. The police had asked the HR & CE officials to once again ask the temple priests after promising them that there will be no punishment for hiding facts.
In September 2014, the visiting Australian PM Tony Abbott handed over a dancing Nataraja idol of Sripuranthan temple in Ariyalur and an Ardnareswara idol to the Indian government in New Delhi. The two idols had been sold to Australian galleries by Subash Kapoor for millions of dollars.
The ninth century idol of goddess Uma Maheswari, originally from Sripuranthan temple in Ariyalur district, which is now with the Singapore Asian civilisations museum, is expected to come back to Tamil Nadu soon. It was also purchased from Kapoor.
An American citizen of Indian origin, Subhash Kapoor is now lodged in Puzhal central jail in Chennai after extradition from Germany four years ago. He was arrested in Germany in October 2011, during his visit to that country, based on an Interpol alert.
Having plundered temples across south India and South East Asia with the help of his network of smugglers, Kapoor was running an antique showroom ‘Art of the Past’ in Manhattan, New York.
It was in April 2008 that his name attracted police attention when the Tamil Nadu police were investigating thefts of many antique metal idols from the Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple at Suthamalli village in Ariyalur district. Small time smugglers used to refer to Kapoor as big businessman who stays only in five star hotels in Chennai when he flies down to do business.
