Tamil Nadu / Tamil Nadu DGP stops auction of 500-year-old Nataraja idol in France, stolen in 1972

Tamil Nadu News: Tamil Nadu Idol Wing DGP Jayanth Murali stopped the auction of a stolen 500-year-old idol in France. Elite Idol Wing found that the auction house had put the idol up for auction in the price band of Euro 2,00,000 to Euro 3,00,000 (roughly Rs. 1.76 crore to Rs. 2.64 crore). He tweeted, stop the auction, return it to us, it was stolen from Tamil Nadu, India.

Soon after the police informed the state government, the message was sent to the Union Home Ministry, which took up the issue with the French authorities through the Indian Embassy in Paris.

The Director General of Police (DGP) of the states told media persons that the Idle Wing established communication using diplomatic channels to stop the auction.

The statue was stolen in 1972

The 500-year-old Nataraja idol belongs to Sri Kothanda Rameswara Temple at Kayathar in Thoothukudi district and was stolen in 1972.

According to officials of the Archaeological Survey of India, the bronze idol belongs to the Vijayanagara period (15th to 16th centuries).

The officials did this work on getting the information

The idol wing officials, after receiving information that the idol was being auctioned, checked the photographs of the idols at the Indo-French Institute, Puducherry and found that the photographs of the stolen idol and the records of the institute were identical.

A senior official of the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing said that when it was proved that the idol of Nataraja stolen and the one being put up for auction was the same, it was immediately informed to the Tamil Nadu government. The government in turn approached the Union Home Ministry and took the matter forward.