Chennai : The idol wing of the Tamil Nadu CB-CID has given three days’ time for the owners and staff of an art gallery ‘The Boutique’ to produce documents regarding the three statues recovered from the gallery on Wednesday.
The Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu police, which is spearheading the recovery of idols and other artifacts from galleries across the state, recovered three antique statues 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 statues – two of Parvathi and one of Lord Shiva.
One of the two Parvathi idols is in a standing posture and weighed 26.4 kg, while the other Parvathi idol is in a sitting posture and weighed 8.4 kg. The Lord Shiva dancing idol 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 idols and they were not in possession of any documents related to these three statues.
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 idols 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 statues from across the world and many have been restored to their respective temples.
–IANS