Anushka Pathak, Mumbai Uncensored, 14th January 2022 :
Tamil Nadu Police have arrested a Kashmiri businessman named Javed Shah on Tuesday, who was involved in an international idol theft racket.
A statue worth Rs 40 crore has been recovered from his possession. Police have scanned his contacts and are looking out for others associated with this network.
In addition to the CB-CID statue wing of Tamil Nadu Police, the Director General of Police had received a tip that some statues were illegally kept at a shop in Mahabalipuram.
A Special Police Team (SIT) was made on this basis. The team then handed over Javed Shah’s shop to the Indian Handicrafts Emporium. Javed Shah was also arrested from the spot after the information was corrected.
Police recovered ancient idols and items from his shop in the raid. These include 11 statues and eight more items . The archaeological department said that the statues date back to the 11th century. Further police investigation revealed that Javed did not have a licence to sell the idols.
The recovered idols include a statue of Goddess Parvati, a flute-playing statue of Lord Krishna, a ten-headed statue of Ravana and other ancient objects. These idols are estimated to be around Rs. 40 crores in the international market. Police say Javed Shah could be one of the men of the racket and his strings may be linked to major international criminals.
During interrogation, Javed told the police that he has been smuggling idols for the last 30 years. He said he used to secretly sell precious idols to tourists visiting hotels in the city. He has been remanded to police custody after being arrested. Meanwhile, his brother is reported to be missing. Police are now looking out for which temples these statues belong to.
