Chennai, Aug 31 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Idol wing police are probing into the background of two 300-year-old idols seized from an Anna Nagar residence in Chennai following tip-offs.

The idols, according to police, are worth crores of rupees.

A senior officer with the Tamil Nadu idol wing told IANS that the bronze statues were that of Mariamman and Nataraja weighing 40 kg and 13 kg respectively. The owner of the house from where the idols were seized told police that the idols were at their home since the period of her parents and she did not know the origin of the idols.

However, Police said that there were markings on the idol and slots for fixing it on the temple car during festivals. The idol wing police are probing the background of the idols and also the temples from where they were lost.

The idol wing police will be taking the service of the French Institute of Puducherry which has more than one lakh fifty thousand photographs of idols of South Indian temples.

Idol wing police officers told IANS that the idols are 300 years old and would fetch crores in international markets.

While the house owner is maintaining that the idols were with the family even before she was born, the police are probing in all angles to find out the source of the idols that are of spiritual and historic importance.