The CID’s wing said on Monday that a Nataraj idol that had been missing for 62 years from the Arulmigu Vedapureeswarar Temple in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district has been traced in New York, USA. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department’s temple, which has been around for two thousand years, was broken into by some robbers, who took the idol. The idol wing began a probe after receiving a complaint from S Venkatachalam of Thiruvedhikudi village on September 1. The investigation revealed that the Nataraj idol in the temple was a fake and that the genuine one was missing.
The investigative team requested original photographic images from the Indo-French Institute in Puducherry. Once they had the original image, the wing began searching various museum websites, artefact collectors’ brochures, and auction houses. The original idol was located by the search team at the Asia Society Museum in New York. The original idol, as identified by the expert who was contacted, is the one that is displayed on the museum’s website.
According to the UNESCO agreement, expeditious action is being taken to recover the idol and return it to the temple from whence it was stolen, according to a local official statement. It is also under investigation if any other idols have been stolen from the temple.
