The idol wing of the Tamil Nadu CB-CID recovered 3 ancient murtis of Bhagwan Shiva and Parvati Devi from an art gallery in Chennai. The department has given three days’ time for the owners and staff of the art gallery ‘The Boutique’ to produce documents regarding the three murtis recovered from the gallery on Wednesday.
The Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu police, which is spearheading the recovery of murtis and other artifacts from galleries across the state, recovered three antique murtis worth Rs 2.5 crore from the art gallery, ‘The Boutique’, a statement from the department said.
The statement also said that the team from the idol wing on a search at the gallery found three antique metal murtis – two of Parvathi and one of Lord Shiva.
One of the two Parvathi murtis is in a standing posture and weighed 26.4 kg, while the other Parvathi murti is in a sitting posture and weighed 8.4 kg. The Lord Shiva dancing murti weighed 7.5 kg.
The statement read that the employees of the art gallery situated at Mamallapuram did not have any convincing answers regarding the murtis and they were not in possession of any documents related to the murtis.
The idol wing officials told IANS that the owners of the gallery and its employees have been given three days time to produce the original documents of the murtis and if they don’t produce them within the stipulated time, they would be arrested.
The idol wing of the Tamil Nadu police has recovered several antique murtis from across the world and many have been restored to their respective temples.
