Chennai: When Dr P.M. Balaji led a team of dentists from the medical college he is working to Puzhal prison four weeks ago to conduct a free dental check for inmates there, he may not have imagined he would one day be lodged in one of the cells there. But then he has been cooling his heels in the Puzhal remand prison since Thursday after being arrested by DRI sleuths for smuggling antiques.
In a major operation, DRI sleuths arrested three persons including Balaji, a professor of a private medical college and Srikanth Omkaram, a relative of idol smuggler Dheenadayalan who was arrested earlier by TN police for possession of scores of high value antiques and artefacts. The estimated value of the antiques seized from the dentist and the smuggler kin is likely to run into many crores of rupees.
The DRI had seized number of stone idols, Thanjavur paintings and other artefacts from the houses of Dr Balaji (35), in T Nagar and Srikanth Omkaram (40) in Valsaravakkam. The third person arrested was identified as Udit Jain of Delhi, who helped the other two in getting fake documents to export the antiques. The DRI had also seized bronze statues from the Dr Balaji’s house. “There were broken stone statues of Mahavishnu, Brahmi and Nandi, besides stone pillar carvings and many other artefacts. Five artefacts were also seized from the house of Srikanth Omkaram,” noted a DRI official.
The official said the arrested men were in touch with Dheenadayalan to learn the tricks of antique smuggling. Udit Jain, a middle man who had been arranging registration for stolen antiques, was arrested in Mumbai while the Balaji was picked up from the college while Srikanth was arrested from his house.
