A.G Ponn Manickavel was born in the year 1958 on November 25th to Sombuthevar ( father ) and Kasambuammal ( mother )and is currently 63 years old.He is serving as an Indian Inspector General of Police from the 1969 batch. He belongs to the Tamil Nadu Cadre. In September 2017, he was made the Inspector General of the idol wing. Since then, he has investigated and retrieved hundreds of valuable stolen idols from hindu temples and has reported many irregularities in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department that controls 37,425 temples, 56 mutts or religious orders, 47 temples belonging to mutts, 1721 specific Endowments and 189 trusts. He has shed a new light on these stolen idols.
Ponn Manickavel was the top and most disciplined in his school. He started his career as a direct-group 1 officer from the 1989 batch. He served served as deputy inspector of police in the Tiruchi range and Inspector General of Police Railways.He was compassionate and treated his companions and people under him with respect. He has helped crack over 50 cases and recovered hundreds of idols globally.
One popular incident reported by the Times Of India newspaper was about two bronzes of King Rajarajasolan and his queen Lokamadevi were retrieved from the Calico museum (managed by Gautam Sarabhai foundations)in Ahmedabad,Gujarat by the Idol Wing (CID) led by A.G Ponn Manickavel . The statues valued for its antiquity – panchaloha ( made of five metals that are gold,silver,copper,iron and zinc – sometimes lead instead of zinc), other than its physical value it is also widely believed that jewellery made by the alloy panchaloha is said to bring confidence, good health, prosperity, fortune, peace of mind and a balanced life. Each of the statues were worth more that Rs. 100 crore in the international market. The antique statues belonging to the Big Temple in Thanjavur. It was said that the idols were imported by Rao Bahadur Srinivasa Gopalachari in Kabisthalam in Thanjavur to Gautam Sarabhai for crores of rupees. The statues were brought back to Tamil Nadu on May 31.
Another incident that occurred in the Dandayuthaswami temple (Palani temple). In 2004 the 3000 year old navabashana idol was replaced by the newly sculpted panchaloha idol as the navabashana was “wearing away”. But after a few months the idol was transferred to another room in the temple. Fourteen years later after the investigation of the idol wing and with the help of IIT Madras it was alleged that the newly sculpted idol was made only to “smuggle” the navabushan idol internationally. A.G Ponn Manickavel registered this case on 22 March 2018 and within three days the Chief sthapathi ( temple sculptor) of the Palani temple was arrested as he had no experience in making panchaloha idols ( quantity of the five metals exceeded the amount required and were not accurate )and was only a stone sculptor. KK Raja was also arrested who was then currently the executive officer of the Palani temple. Both were arrested for a loss of Rs. 1.31 crore in making the statue. The navabashana idol was retrieved and replaced.
High court advocate and activist ‘Elephant’ Rajendran demanded the Tamil Nadu Government to let A.G Ponn Manickavel to probe idol theft cases as he was due retirement that year, he also decided to seek the court on giving him an extension by giving a registration stating the breakthroughs and achievements he made in the idol wing, also exposing the irregularities in the HR and CE department. Rajendra not also pointed out that A.G Ponn Manickavel was the only police officer who has registered cases regarding idol thefts and not a single case was registered about idol theft before he took charge. He was granted one year extension on the day of his retirement by Madras High Court, it also quashed the request of handing all the idol theft cases to CBI, Ponn Manickavel could handle it.
There is also a movie called ‘Pon Manickavel’ directed by A.C Mugil starring Prabhu Deva and Nivetha Pethuraj. An amazing action/drama movie on a case A.G Ponn Manickavel solves after his retirement (2020 film)
Ponn Manickavel faced many hardships during his career, government slowing the pace of investigations and HR & CE department falsely accusing him of harassment and even accusing him of covering up idol thefts – how ironic?! But in the end he has done so much good and has won so much respect that the people who are against him are just grain of dust compared to the respect he till now has. That is what inspired this essay and maybe you too.
By Negha Ravishankar
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