CHENNAI: The sleuths of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Idol Wing, nabbed two persons on Friday for stealing 300-year-old panchaloha idols worth Rs 5 lakh from Tiruchy government museum two years ago. Both were part of an 11-member gang that stole 31 idolsActing on specific information, the EOW officials rounded up a man from Melur bus stand in Madurai.When inquired, he identified himself as Sivachidambaram (31) of Tirupattur Taluk in Sivaganga. Further probe revealed that his brother-in-law Mahendran possessed three panchaloha idols and Sivachidambaram was sent to Melur to show their photographs to the agents who showed interest in buying them.“We approached him posing as an agent. He told us that he would give the Ganesha idol for Rs 1.5 lakh, but the Nataraja and Shiva ones would cost more. They seemed to have contacts with many agents, who would later smuggle it abroad and sell them,” an EOW official said.Police later arrested Mahendran in Tirupattur road and recovered three one-feet tall panchaloha idols — of Ganesha, Nataraja and Shiva — hidden under the ground in a grove.Police were on the lookout for four others, following a statement from Mahendran. Investigations revealed that the idols, which were 300-years-old, were stolen by a gang of 11 from the Government Museum in Tiruchy on September 29, 2009. A case was registered at Tiruchy Fort Police Station.Police said the same gang had struck at Pattukottai in June 2009 and made away with five idols. Sources said police identified the accused in idol theft case when they arrested seven gang members in a finance firm burglary in May 2010. They had recovered 18 of the idols. “They burgled about 5.2 kg of gold jewellery from the finance company in Thanjavur district. After the local police arrested seven persons in this case, they confessed to having stolen the museum idols. Of the absconding four men, we have now arrested two,” said a police official. Police teams are searching for the other accused to recover the remaining idols.
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