Chennai: The idol wing, a tiny unit of TN police’s economic offences wing, has been triggering a ripple effect in the international idol smuggling network since 2011 when its personnel first set their eyes on smuggler Subash Kapoor. There was no looking back after the sleuths managed to get him extradited the following year.
The highly successful unit is, however, in bad shape when it comes to counting its manpower. It was created in 1983 with a sanctioned strength of 27. Currently it has just 9 police personnel attached to it – an IG of police, one deputy SP, four Inspectors and three head constables. The unit does not have a DIG or SP or even sufficient constables. In the last two weeks, the unit borrowed three DSPs from another unit to conduct searches in the premises belonging to Dheenadayalan.
The searches in premises of Dheenadayalan, who used to run Aparrna Gallery, had resulted in the seizure of 216 metal and stone idols and 159 paintings so far. “We may search one more place belonging to him soon,” an officer noted.
Idol wing cops had been hitting the headlines for their sustained efforts to detect hundreds of stolen idols and also for making seizures of artefacts worth hundreds of crores in last few years. With less than 10 cops, the idol wing could be the smallest unit of TN police. It landed a prized catch when it got international smuggler Subash Kapoor extradited four years ago.
Staff-strapped the wing may be, but it created ripples across the world when it began its crackdown and now countries like US, Australia and Singapore are returning ancient idols worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
According officials, during the early ’80s, there was a sudden increase in thefts of Panchaloha idols. Such thefts from temples affected the sentiments of the local people and it was decided to have a special unit to investigate thefts of idols and antiques. The unit is also famous for collecting intelligence on the nefarious activities of antique dealers and art collectors.
