Chennai: A 400-year-old idol, believed to be of King Sethupathi’s clan of Sivaganga and being offered for sale clandestinely, was seized by the Tamil Nadu Police’s Idol Wing and four people arrested, official said.
Acting on a tip-off that two men – P. Arumugaraj (56) and M. Kumaravel (36) of Thoothukodi were in the process of selling an idol, police laid a trap. A police officer posed as a decoy and agreed to buy the idol for a few crores. He was told that the idol was with Musthafa of Uriyur in Tiruchi District.
The duo contacted Mustafa and the three agreed to bring the idol to a secluded place at Tiruchi-Madurai Kalapatti Road junction. Mustafa met the decoy customer, along with Kumaravel and Arumugaraj, and the idol police squad who were hiding in the surroundings pounced on them and arrested the three along with the idol.
On interrogation, Mustafa revealed that he got the idol from a person named Selvakumar of Sivaganga. A police team went to Sivaganga and arrested Selvakumar who revealed that his father was an astrologer and during his travels, he got the idol from a coconut merchant.
A senior officer of the idol wing police told IANS that they will approach the Archeological Survey of India for determining the exact period of the idol and then would try to ascertain from where it was stolen.
