Panchaloha idol recovered from Bhavani, cops suspect hand of smuggling gang

Three fishermen identified as Karthikeyan, Rajesh and Arul were fishing in the gushing waters of river Bhavani near Anthiyur in Erode on Sunday evening, when they spotted some object.

They then got into the water and found an ancient idol of Lord Perumal. It was around two feet in height with a pedestal. As the news of idol recovery spread over, a large number of villagers gathered on the river banks to have a look. The villagers also informed Anthiyur Tahsildar K Ganesan.

Thereafter the fishermen visited the Tahsildar office on Monday and handed over the idol to Deputy Tahsildar Saravanan. The official had taken the idol to hand it over to District Administration staff.

The recovery of the ancient idol comes in the wake of idol wing sleuths led by IG Pon Manickavel cracking down on idol smugglers and recovering stolen ones. Police suspect the smugglers to have stolen the idol from some temple in Tamil Nadu, but had thrown it inside the river fearing that they may be caught by police.

Villagers have urged the concerned officials to restore the idol in the temple from where it was stolen after prompt investigations. It was in January this year that two panchaloha’ idols stolen from a temple in Tirupur district were found dumped along the National Highways near Karumathampatty in Coimbatore outskirts.

The two antique idols from Kallapalayam temple near Samalapuram in Tirupur were spotted by a shepherd near a dilapidated building nearby Coimbatore-Avinashi National Highways.