On Monday (November 7), the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID recovered an antique idol of Lord Balaji, which was stolen from a temple in Karnataka. The recovery was nothing short of a movie plot, with the sleuths masquerading as smugglers and engaging a broker to nab the accused.
The idol is believed to have been stolen from a temple in the Mandya district of Karnataka. The idol weighs 22.8 kg, it is 58 cm in height and 31 cm in width. The theft was orchestrated in 2017 by the temple priest, who was supposedly in need of urgent money.
He had sold the antique idol to an advocate, who hailed from Gobichettipalayam in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. When the unnamed advocate was smuggling the 600-year-idol to Tamil Nadu, his car was stopped by the Karnataka police.
Karnataka police confiscated the stolen idol in 2017
Since he did not have documents and failed to provide a convincing explanation, the cops seized the idol and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the advocate for theft. The Karnataka police conducted a probe into the matter and even filed a charge sheet against him in court. However, the advocate was able to obtain a forged bill and was acquitted based on it.
He was thus successful in taking the prized idol of Lord Balaji to Gobichettipalayam. Initially, the advocate tried to sell the idol for a whopping ₹50 crore in the international market. Owing to the high price, he wasn’t able to find customers.
Idol Wing sleuths masqueraded as wealthy smugglers
The advocate then tasked his junior to sell the Balaji idol. He passed away in 2018, leaving the antique to the junior advocate. On the suggestion of one of the brokers, the junior advocate slashed the price of the idol to ₹33 crores.
In the meanwhile, Idol Wing officials were posing as smugglers to recover stolen antique idols. As part of this strategy, two sub-inspectors were masquerading as wealthy idol smugglers and looking for stolen idols. On November 4, they stumbled upon a broker which led to the recovery of the idol.
Two Sub-Inspectors, namely, Rajesh and Pandiarajan, were approached by the broker at a coffee shop on Avinashi road in Coimbatore (80 km west of Gobichettipalayam) after learning that they were looking to purchase antique idols. During this conversation, the broker informed of a 600-year-old Balaji idol, currently in possession of his old friend (the junior advocate from Gobichettipalayam).
Successful recovery of the stolen idol
When the undercover officers expressed their interest in the idol, the broker said that he can arrange the transaction and quoted the price at ₹33 crores. He also said that he can show them the idol the next day. The broker led the duo to the residence of the junior advocate on Sunday (November 6), where the Idol Wing investigators pretended to perform dubious tests on the idol.
Accordingly, the Idol Wing officers posing as smugglers were taken to the house of the advocate, at VIP Muthu Nagar, Nagarpalayam, Gobichettipalayam, by the broker on the following day. The officers were shown the idol, and the officers said that they need to do some tests to confirm that it is genuinely an antique idol and not a fake. After the seller agreed to it, the Sub Inspectors did some tests that looked like real, and based on this ‘test’, they concluded that ₹33 crore is too much for it.
They told the junior advocate that the antique idol cost only ₹15 crores. After bargaining over the price, they agreed to sell it at the new price. The cops, who were pretending to be smugglers all the while, promised to return back the following day with the cash as the price for the idol.
On Monday (November 7), sub-inspector Rajesh and Pandiarajan landed at the VIP Muthu Nagar residence of the advocate with a briefcase, along with a police team waiting outside. When the advocate brought the idol, the Idol Wing CID team swung into action.
In a matter of seconds, they seized the stolen idol and gheraoed him from all sides. After realising that he has been busted and his residence was surrounded by police, the advocate resigned to his fate and offered no resistance. During interrogation, he confessed to receiving the idol from his senior, who passed away in 2018. He said that the senior advocate knew a priest at the temple in Mandya, from whom he had received the idol in exchange for money.
Given that only the senior advocate was privy to the information about the temple and the priest, the Idol Wing CID has not been able to ascertain the origins of the murti. The idol was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Kumbakonam.
The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID revealed their grand plan and successful attempt at recovery of the 600-year-old idol in a press release on Wednesday (November 9). The operation was led by Inspector Elango and supervised by the Additional DSP Central Zone Balamurugan.
