18 arrested for stealing idols

The Saidabad police has arrested 18 people and has seized three Panchaloha idols from them.

Archaeology department officials who inspected the idols said that they may date back to the 18th or 19th century and may cost crores in the international market. However, their true value and the period they belong to is yet to be established by the ASI.

A Saidabad police official got a tip a week ago that some people were looking for a buyer interested in antiques. After that the police started working on clues and finally arrested the men. The police identified 19 people who were involved in the offence.

The police disguised themselves as civilians and caught one D. Narendra Reddy and B. Chinna with a 14-kg panchaloha idol of goddess Parvathi. The suspects were planning to sell it for 25 lakh, the police said. Later, based on information from Chinna and Narendra, the police raided a house at Dummaiguda and another at Shamshabad and recovered two more idols. Enquiries revealed that the three idols had reached the city from Tanuku and that G. Srinivas and S. Adi Reddy had bought them.

Police said that Narendra with the help of Ramesh and Venkatesh Goud tried to sell one of the idols and gave the rest to Raj Kumar and Srinivas Reddy for sale.

Police said it was found that both T. Nageswar Rao and S. Nageswar Rao were scrap merchants and had bought the idols from one Raju four years ago for a small sum. Raju, who seems to have stolen the idols, is still at large.