The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Delhi-based suspected international idol smuggler Sharad Kumar Dugar, reported to be an associate of kingpin Subash Chandra Kapoor, in a case booked against him and a few others by Idol Wing - Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for smuggling 13 ancient idols from Narumpoonathar Temple at Palavoor in Tirunelveli district in 2005.
Justice J. Nisha Banu dismissed the advance bail application on the ground that a prima facie case had been made out against the petitioner. Terming the alleged offence a crime committed against the “nation’s cultural and historic heritage,” the judge deprecated the practice of smuggling ancient idols attached to the sentiments of the people of the country and appreciated Idol Wing - CID for unearthing the petitioner’s role in the crime.
The judge said the 13 idols stolen from the temple cost several crores of rupees in the international market. One of them, Anantha Natarajar panchaloha idol, considered to be more than 900 years old, alone was worth $2,50,000 in 2005. A huge network of idol smugglers, including the petitioner, exported to different countries about four of the 13 idols along with 20 other stolen idols.
The police officers, who investigated the case in 2008, chose to file a charge sheet without including the present petitioner and Kapoor involved in selling smuggled idols at the latter’s art gallery in New York. A few years later, a new team of prosecutors decided to conduct further investigation in the case and they succeeded in getting Kapoor arrested at Frankfurt airport in Germany in October 2011 and extraditing him to Chennai in July 2012.
Utilising a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed between India and the U.S., the investigators got search warrants to search the business premises of Kapoor in Manhattan.