Seized treasures rotting in CID godown

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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BANGALORE: The setting is eerie. Amid trophies of mounted animal heads is an ageing and rickety table on which stands an intricate..

BANGALORE: The setting is eerie. Amid trophies of mounted animal heads is an ageing and rickety table on which stands an intricately carved, 22kg ivory idol of Lord Ganesha. His abode is a cardboard box in a godown on CID premises. Artistic value apart, monetarily the idol is worth nearly Rs 1 crore.
Stepping into the godown of the forest cell of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is like entering the land of wildlife smuggling. Leopard and tiger pelts, exquisite ivory idols, carved tusks, sandalwood pieces and trophies (preserved animal busts) are stored in the same bags they were confiscated from smugglers. They are stored only to be produced before the court as evidence when the case eventually comes to trial. The bags are often lowquality backpacks, cloth suitcases or gunny bags. Additional Director General of Police K S N Chikkerur says that since 2000, the police stations have been asked to store such confiscated goods in their respective police stations for want of space. "They come under the Wildlife Protection Act and are the property of the Court. Regardless of the outcome of the case, the goods would then become the property of the Central and State Government," he says.

The Ganesha is carved by Muttathara Mani, a master sculptor of the Muttathara school in Trivandrum. "He must have used at least 50 kilogram of ivory to make the idol and no one knows how may elephants were killed for it," he says, adding that in 1997 the idol along with a miniature RamaSitaLakshmana and Hanuman, and another smaller Ganesha was recovered by Kalasipalyam police.

tures slowly fading away, are kept in a suitcase. These were meant to be sold to Japanese tourists and were brought here from Jaipur.

Among pelts, Chikkerur says that a tiger skin measuring 11.3 feet from the tip of the nose to the tail is probably one of the biggest cats to be killed for its skin. Decaying musk glands, felons and wellpreserved claws are also stored in broken plastic boxes.