‘Antique’ idol found dumped in temple

Police suspect that smugglers had thrown away the antique idol following a crackdown by the idol wing sleuths. The idol wing police led by IG Pon Manickavel busted several idol smuggling gangs and had recovered numerous antique statues from even abroad.

The idol of Arthanareeswarar, which was found wrapped in a paper and lying in the temple premises, was around one-foot-high and weighed around 2.178 kilograms. 

On information from the HR & CE officials, a police team led by idol wing Sub Inspector rushed to the spot and held enquiries there. The HR & CE officials and police are currently examining to know if it was a ‘panchaloha’ idol.  Officials also held enquiries at the ‘Arthanareeswarar’ temple in Namakkal to know whether any statue had gone missing from the temple. 

However, the temple authorities claimed that no such statue had gone missing before. 

The images recorded on the five security cameras at the ‘Kasi Viswanathar’ temple were being examined to find about the movement of suspicious persons there. Special police teams are on the lookout for suspected persons.