Two stone pillars that are antiquities buried under the lawns of a bungalow in Third Street, Kasturi Estate in Poes Garden were unearthed by the Idol Wing of police on Friday evening.

The team was led by the wing’s chief, Inspector General of Police A.G.Ponn Manickavel. He claimed that more than 20 idols and artefacts were concealed on the premises and the find was connected to the investigation against businessman and art collector Ranvir Shah, from whose premises they had recently recovered over 244 idols, stone pillars and artefacts.

“Following credible information from the investigation into Mr. Shah’s connections, we followed up on this lead and searched the premises,” he told journalists.

The bungalow is a guest house of KCP Sugars and Industries Limited in which city-based entrepreneur Kiran Rao is the executive director and Mr. Shah, an independent director.

Ms. Rao was not present when the search was conducted. The police took away an employee for questioning. “It looks like the two seized pillars were buried in the garden about four days ago,” the IG said. They were unearthed using crowbars in an operation watched by the media.

Late last month, the Idol Wing searched the house of Mr. Shah at Srinagar Colony and they followed it up with searches in his farmhouses last Tuesday in two villages in Kancheepuram.

Idol Wing officers claim that most of them do not have the required documents, a claim Mr. Shah has denied in his anticipatory bail petition.

CCTV footage

The Idol Wing claims that even as it conducted the search on his premises, some idols were moved to other locations and it zeroed in on a commercial establishment on Whites Road, Royapettah, in which Ms. Rao had stakes and two other premises in Raja Annamalaipuram.

The Idol Wing also claimed to have recovered recent CCTV footage showing antiquities being carted away from one place to another, which led them to the Friday’s search. After nightfall, the police suspended their search operations at the bungalow. They will resume it on Saturday morning.

Shah seeks time

Mr. Shah did not appear before DSP Idol Wing in Guindy for the inquiry. Instead, his advocate K. Thangarasu appeared and sought time.

Mr. Thangarasu said, “Prior to the receipt of the said summons, Mr. Shah had embarked on a previously planned trip to north India to perform the afterlife rites for his father Ranjit R.Shah as part of the sacred “Shraadh” month rituals. As a result, he is unable to appear in front of the DSP Idol Wing and he will be returning early next week.”

The advocate requested the DSP to excuse Mr. Shah’s absence and stated that he would come early next week. Mr Shah is a law abiding citizen and will be cooperating with the law enforcement agencies, the advocate added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – October 06th, 2018