The Tamil Nadu’s Idol Wing has recovered nine stone idols which are believed to be more than 300 years old from a house located at Broadway.

Since the residents of the house were unable to provide any valid documents for these possessions an investigation is on.

The Press release issued by the Idol Wing stated that a search in the house on Peradiyar Street, Chennai was carried out based on a tip-off and the first idol to be found was that of Dakshina Moorthy. Further search by the officials yielded eight more stone idols which were concealed in the house. The owner of the house Pamela Emanuel, who is the wife of Manuel R. Pineiro, reportedly an idol smuggler, could not provide any valid documentation for the idols.

#Congratulations to my team for conducting a successful search operation and recovering 9 stone #idols ,7 of which are #antique worth several croresfrom a house in Mannady Chennai.💐💐@TNDIPRNEWS @tnpoliceoffl @CMOTamilnadu @police #IPS #indianpolice pic.twitter.com/wAmSg8MX4w

— Jayanth Murali IPS, DGP, Author of “42 Mondays” (@jayantmuraliips) August 3, 2022

The idols had been concealed in the house by the family as they could not be smuggled out following Pineiro’s death a few years ago.

The nine idols include two relief sculptures of four and five statuettes on plinths of stone; idols of four male deities; and idols of three female deities.

The Idol Wing is now finding out to which temple(s) these idols belong to. Following examination by the experts it came to light that these idols could be over 300 years old and seven of the nine idols were antiques. They also added that the value of these could run into several crores of rupees.