This story is from September 23, 2017

Idol theft case: Arrested cop didn’t cooperate with investigators, says police officer

Idol theft case: Arrested cop didn’t cooperate with investigators, says police officer
Chennai: Suspended deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kader Batcha, who was in the custody of idol wing CID police for five days, didn’t cooperate with the investigating officers.
The inspector-general of police of the idol wing CID A G Pon Manickavel told reporters in the court premises in Kumbakonam after witnessing the court proceedings that his team of investigation officers grilled Batcha with 62 questions vital to the investigation.
Two additional superintendents of police Jose Thangaiah and Kumar have been assigned to probe Batcha.
The officer said, “We didn’t get any valid piece of information from Batcha and there is no outcome of the custody. If needed , we will seek the court to question Batcha in our custody again.” He added that three additional superintendents of police, eight DSPs, apart from 100 inspectors and sub-inspectors were appointed to the idol wing CID by the state government. This new enrollment of officers has given a ray of hope to solve many pending cases across the state now.
As Batcha’s custody ended on Friday, the idol wing CID officials produced him before the special court to try exclusively the idol wing cases in the state in Kumbakonam. The judge ordered the police to detain Batcha in judicial custody until October 6. Police took him to the Trichy central prison and he was remanded there.
Police personnel arrested Batcha from a hideout in Kumbakonam and he was later remanded in judicial custody after being produced before the court on September 13. The idol theft case took momentum on June 27 after Madras high court judge Justice Mahadevan came down hard on the idol wing CID officials for not initiating any action against officials involved in the case. Subsequently, a police team arrested sub inspector Subburaj, 54, who served in
Koyambedu police station and was serving as police head constable in 2008 when he and Batcha are believed to have obtained antique idols from ta farmer and later sold them to the idol smuggler G Deenadayalan, who is currently facing many cases, for Rs 2 crore.
After robbing the idols from Madurai, Batcha and Subburaj brought three idols to Chennai and sold two idols for Rs 25 lakh to city dealer Dheenadayalan who was a known art dealer then. “It looks like Batcha knew Dheenadayalan from 2005 and his illegal smuggling of antique idols. So he used that contact to sell two idols which reached Subash Kapoor’s gallery in Manhattan within weeks. From there, a buyer from Bangkok purchased it,” a police official said.
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About the Author
A Selvaraj

A Selvaraj, who has been working as a crime reporter in Tamil Nadu since 1994, has several sensational scoops to his credit. In 1998, he exposed a cheating racket led by Divya Mathaji and her followers in Tiruchi. He broke several stories which caught nation’s attention, including the suicide of 2G scam accused Sadiq Batcha.

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