Tue May 06 10:41:36 UTC 2025: ## Tamil Nadu Police Recover Stolen Idol from Netherlands Auction

**Chennai, May 6, 2025** – A 15-year-old theft case has concluded successfully with the recovery of a stolen idol. The Kannappa Nayanar metal idol, pilfered from the Arulmigu Agneeswaraswamy temple in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu, in 2010, has been recovered from the Netherlands.

The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID received intelligence that the idol was slated for auction at the European Fine Art Exhibition in Maastricht. Working with Dutch authorities and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), they intervened, prompting the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seize the idol on March 23, 2025. Legal processes are now underway to repatriate the Kannappa Nayanar idol back to India. The Thittachery police originally registered the theft case in 2010.

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