An antique emerald lingam, estimated by the Idol Wing of the CID to be worth at least Rs 500 crore, has been seized from the bank locker of a resident of Thanjavur, an agrarian district in the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. However, the exact value of the lingam is being ascertained.
According to Idol Wing CID Additional Director General of Police K Jayanth Murali, the seizure was made based on a tip-off that antique items were stored at the house of an elderly businessman Samiyappan in Thanjavur.
Murali said a team led by Additional Superintendents of Police Rajaram and Ashok Natarajan, which went to Samiyappan’s house, grilled his son Arun about the antique idols. “Arun told the police his father had safely kept an antique ‘Maranatha lingam’ (emerald) in a bank locker. He handed it over to the police but said he was not aware how his father had acquired the lingam weighing about 530 grams and measuring eight centimetres in height,” Murali told journalists.
According to the ADGP, gem dealers who were shown the emerald lingam estimated that it could be worth Rs 500 crore. The police also showed the lingam to some spiritual gurus, including the Dharmapuram Adheenam (mutt head), who examined it and confirmed it was original emerald.
However, Murali said the origin of the ‘Maranatha lingam’ has not been established. The Idol Wing CID hopes to zero in on the temple to which the lingam belongs through scientific analysis.
Samiyappan is also being questioned by the police to ascertain how he acquired the lingam.
