Chennai: Sleuths of the idol wing CID seized two more idols from a prominent businessman, Ranvir Shah’s, residence in Saidapet here, on Friday morning.
The raids continued at Ranvir’s house on Friday, in which sleuths seized two more idols raising the count to 91 artefacts. On Thursday, a team headed by idol wing inspector general of police, G. Pon Manickavel, raided the house. Addressing mediapersons after raids, Manickavel said, “After the search warrant issued by additional chief justice magistrate, Kumbakonam, we raided the house, and all the artefacts seized could be those stolen from Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu.”
The officer also said that Ranvir had bought the idols, and now investigations are on as to how he purchased them.
Superintendent of police, Ashok Natarajan, who was also part of the raid team said, he had details from whom he purchased the items, but did not know where they were kept before, and also origin of the statues. The antique value of the seized idols is expected to be more than Rs 100 crore, he added.
Meanwhile on Friday, idol wing DSP, Sundaram, told that all the seized idols and artefacts would be taken to Kumbakonam ACJM court on Monday, where the case is being heard.
On Friday, Ranvir Shah’s advocate, K. Thangarasu, who addressed reporters said, “The idols have been seized for investigation purpose. There is nothing illegal about this. The statues and idols are legally acquired from licensed antiquity dealers. The documents for the seized statues are registered under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The seized idols would be returned after investigation is complete.”
It may also be noted that in 2016 when the idol wing team raided Dheenadayalan’s house, one of the kingpins behind idol smuggling, they also had raided Ranvir’s house. Now, police are investigating if Ranvir could have purchased the idols from Dheenadayalan.
