A 20-member team of the Tamil Nadu idol wing CID headed by Superintendent of Police R Sakthivel on Thursday recovered 74 antique idols from the house of a French national in Puducherry.
Acting on a specific tipoff, Tamil Nadu idol wing conducted searches in a house “Rue Romain Rolland” street in the presence of the owner Jean Paul Rajarathinam, and among them were 14 sculpted in stone and the remaining in metal worth several crores, said Sakthivel.
The idols dating back to the Chola period are likely to have been stolen from temples across Tamil Nadu, he added further. The Idol wing has seized all the 74 statues.
Rajarathinam told police that the idols were in possession of the family since the time of his grandfather. There has been no arrest of anyone in connection with the seizure in Puducherry, said Sakthivel.
It has been found that the owner of the house, John Paul RajaRathinam is a relative of an idol smuggling accused.