<![CDATA[The house of businessman Ranvir Shah was raided on Thursday and the raid resulted in the recovery of antique idols and artefacts worth several crores of rupees. The raid was conducted by the Idol Wing police. The residence is located at Srinagar Colony in Saidapet.. The idols were purchased by Mr. Shah from an unlicensed dealer of antiques, the police said. Mr. Shah is a prominent personality in Chennai and operates in the art, architecture and cultural spheres. He is a businessman and exporter and is the founder-trustee of the Prakriti Foundation that organises theatre festivals, poetry-reading sessions and other cultural activities. The raid was conducted by a police team, led by Inspector General of Police A.G. Ponn Manickavel who entered his house with a search warrant from the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Kumbakonam, on Thursday morning. Mr. Shah was not available at his house when the search was conducted. During the raid many products such as Antique stone idols, stone pillars and pilasters with carvings, many sculptures including those of Nandi and bronze idols of Hindu deities were found in the house. The police loaded the artefacts with the help of trucks and shifted them away after a two-hour operation. The search was conducted as part of an investigation by the Idol Wing police, which seized a treasure pile of stolen antique idols and artefacts from the Chennai home of G. Deenadayalan, a trader in arts and artefacts, in 2016. According to the police the investigation revealed that he could have sold the artefacts to Mr. Shah, and therefore, the search was conducted. Mr. Manickavel said he had reasonable ground to believe the artefacts were stolen from temples. He said that is why a warrant from the court was obtained. At the end of the raid the Idol Wing police recovered 89 items including stone idols, 12 metal idols and 22 huge pillars. ]]>
