It was a day of celebration for residents of Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli district, as they witnessed the return of a Nataraja idol stolen from their town 37 years ago. Thousands gathered on Tuesday to witness the return of the idol which was paraded across the town by priests. The idol which was at an Art Gallery in Australia for 19 years, was handed over to the idol wing two weeks ago.

The Nataraja idol was stolen in 1982 from the Sri Kulasekaramudaiyar Temple along with statues of Goddess Sivagami, Manickavasagar and Sribalinayakar. The case had been closed by the local police two years later, claiming they couldn't trace the stolen idols.  In 2017, it was reopened by the idol wing who traced it to an Art Gallery in Adelaide, Australia.

According to Times of India, the idol is 2.5 foot tall and weighs over 100 kg. An idol wing team headed by IG Pon Manickavel went to Australia to retrieve the statue and bring to Delhi. From there the statue was brought to Chennai on September 13.  

Pon Manickavel further told the media that additional security will be given to the temple. A committee has also been formed for the safe keeping of the statue. The idol is reportedly worth close to Rs.30 crore. The IG further assured the residents that his team is working on tracking the other three missing statues and will bring back to the town at the earliest.

Controversy surrounded the retrieval of the idol after Pon Manickavel alleged that the Tamil Nadu government was not bearing the cost of travel to the Art Gallery of South Australia

“The Tamil Nadu government had been dodging for 330 days to bear the cost of bringing back the idol to the State by air. The registrar of AGSA, Jane Robinson, at the request of  the special investigation team, spent their own money to bring it back and handed it over to us,” he told The Hindu.