Idol Wing CID to bring back ‘Dancing Krishna’ idol from Thailand 

Idol Wing CID of Tamil Nadu police to bring back stolen Chola-era bronze idol of God Krishna.

Idol Wing CID (IW-CID) of Tamil Nadu police is bringing an antique Chola-era bronze idol of God Kaliya Kalki also called as Kaliya Narthana Krishna (Dancing Krishna) which

Recently, the Director General of Police(DGP), Idol Wing CID Shailesh Kumar Yadav discussed with officials of the Union Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India in New Delhi the plans to bring back the idol from the Thailand capital. The present value of the idol is $3.5 million. 

“The rare variant of the bronze idol was handed over by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand. The idol is kept at the High Commission of India in Bangkok and will be brought to India at the earliest through proper channels,” Mr. Yadav told The Hindu,

Due to the continuous efforts by a special team of Idol Wing CID, the idol of Krishna in dancing posture from later Chola period was traced abroad recently.  While conducting searches on the websites of museums, art galleries and private collectors, the team came across an article under the caption of “Gold of the Gods” which was published in November 2008 and authored by Luis Nicolson. The article carried the photo image of the metal idol. 

They also came across another article ‘Hold On to Your Hat’ by antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford which was published in 2019 in the website of Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARC) which said he had collected the same Kaliya Narthana Krishna metal idol. Mr. Latchford was an art collector of Cambodia, India, South East Asia and other countries. 

Mr. Yadav said the investigation revealed that Mr.Latchford (who died in 2020) had collected the idol from international antique dealer Subash Chandra Kapoor in 2005 and looking at the documents it was found that the value fixed for the idol at the time of purchase was US $6,50,000.

After the demise of Latchford, his daughter handed over most of his collections to Cambodia and dancing Krishna to Thailand following the investigation by Indian and U.S. authorities, said S.Vijaya Kumar, an art enthusiast and co-founder of India Pride project.