CHENNAI: Close on the heels of discussions between the
Tamil Nadu government and representatives from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) over retrieval of
idols stolen from the state, Australia has sought the
translation of related FIRs from Tamil to English.
Australia has written to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) urging to provide details for the purpose. “After receiving the communication from Australia, we forwarded it to the idol wing of Tamil Nadu
police last week. They may directly reply to the Australian authorities regarding the translation,” an
ASI official told TOI.
The development comes four months after the custodian of the centrally-protected monuments furnished additional details sought by the Canberra-based
museum over the missing
artefacts. It had given necessary details by the idol wing police.
The list of idols includes that of a 1000-year-old of dancing Sambanthar worth of Rs 4.59 crore a decade back, a 7th century child saint Sambanthar, Lord Arumugam, Goddess Bhadrakali, antique Nandi and Dwarabalagar artefacts. Official sources with the idol wing wondered why Australia was demanding the translation. “The reports already given to Australia for returning the stolen idols are in English,” a police officer said.
Singapore-based sculpture enthusiast S Vijay Kumar charged that Australia was looking for a loophole, delaying the handing over of Tamil Nadu’s treasure. According to him, NGA seems to dispute the stand of the idol wing police relating to the FIRs linked to the disputed Indian artefacts in its possession, by demanding English translations of individual case files.
An 11th century Goddess Bhadrakali idol and a granite Nandi statue from the 11–12th century are some of the disputed artefacts
