Idol Wing steps up efforts to recover three idols from U.K., Netherlands, and Singapore

The Idol Wing-CID of the Tamil Nadu Police has stepped up efforts to recover three idols — Thirumangai Alwar, Kannappa Nayanar, and Hanuman — from museums in the U.K., the Netherlands, and Singapore. Officials expressed the hope that the idols would soon be brought back to India and restituted to their respective temples.

Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP) and Idol Wing-CID chief Kalpana Nayak has been corresponding with the foreign museums, the Union Ministry of Culture, and the respective foreign offices.

Auction halted

Ms. Nayak told The Hindu, “We are in touch with the authorities in those countries through proper channels. The idols are those of Lord Hanuman, Kannappa Nayanar, and Thirumangai Alwar. We have submitted documents to the Singapore museum requesting the return of theHanuman idol. Officials of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, also visited the Sudaraperumal Koil in Kumbakonam, and we have established that the Thirumangai Alwar idol belongs to that temple. They have agreed to return the idol soon. We are also pursuing the Kannappa Nayanar idol case. The auction of the idol was stopped owing to our intervention. Two museums have requested replicas of the idols in exchange for the originals, and that process is under way. We are making all efforts to bring back these idols and restore them to their rightful temples.”

The idol of Thirumangai Alwar, stolen from the Sudaraperumal Koil in Kumbakonam, was conclusively identified at Ashmolean Museum, after researchers matched it with archival photographs from the French Institute of Pondicherry. The claim was confirmed in March 2020, but the COVID-19 restrictions delayed verification. The Ashmolean Museum team visited the temple in July 2022, and the University Council of Oxford approved the idol’s deaccession in March 2024, with the museum committing to its return later that year.

An 11th–12th Century bronze idol of Kannappa Nayanar, stolen on August 8, 2010, from the Arulmigu Agneeswaraswamy Temple at Thirupugalur, Nagapattinam, was intercepted before being sold at the TEFAF Maastricht 2025 art fair in the Netherlands (March 20–25, 2025). Following identification by Vijay Kumar and the India Pride Project and alerts from the Idol Wing-CID and the Archaeological Survey of India, Dutch officials seized the idol and placed it in the custody of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 23, 2025.

The Ananthamangalam Rama group — comprising the bronze idols of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman — was stolen from the Rajagopalaswami Temple, Ananthamangalam, Tamil Nadu, in 1978. Decades later, the Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana idols were traced to a London-based collector linked to the smuggling network of Subhash Kapoor. On being presented with evidence of a post-UNESCO 1970 theft, the collector voluntarily restituted the idols, which were formally handed over to the Indian High Commission in London in November 2020. The idols were subsequently repatriated to Tamil Nadu and reinstated for worship at their original shrine.

In contrast, the Hanuman idol from the same group, acquired by the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), Singapore, in 1998, remains unrestituted despite clear evidence of provenance. Vijay Kumar, co-founder of the India Pride Project, said, “The ACM, Singapore, despite overwhelming evidence of provenance, continues to hold on to the stolen bronze. The ACM has so far restituted only the Uma Parameshwari idol from Sripuranthan linked to the Kapoor scandal.”

440 artefacts

As of September 30, a total of 440 artefacts have been retrieved. Among them are 239 metal idols, 98 stone idols, four maragatha lingams, and several paintings. “Apart from these idols, the Union Ministry of Culture has several artefacts in its custody that were recovered from foreign soil. We are in the process of verifying them to identify those that belong to Tamil Nadu. Once confirmed, they will be brought back to the State and restituted,” Ms. Nayak added.