Nataraja idol found abandoned at Egmore

Around 10.30 am, Selvam, an auto driver, found a bag near the prepaid auto stand lying unclaimed for a long time. Along with fellow drivers Vijay and Manikandan, he opened the bag to find a 1.5 ft tall Nataraja idol that weighed about three kilos.

The shocked trio took the artefact to the police station in Egmore railway station and handed over it to the officers there. The railway police informed the incident to the idol wing IG Ponn Manickavel. He rushed to the Egmore railway station and examined the idol to check if it belonged to any temple in the state. Following this, the idol, which was damaged due to atmospheric condition, was sent for purification. The idol wing chief directed the police personnel to award Rs 2,000 to the auto drivers.

Meanwhile, investigation is on to find out how the idol ended up at Egmore railway station and officers are also looking into the CCTV footage. As the idol wing has been recovering idols stolen from different temples in the state from across the country, it is suspected that somebody might have left the idol near railway station.