5 idols stolen 15 months ago recovered, 4 held in TN

CHENNAI: Five idols stolen from ancient Adhinatha Perumal Ranganayaki Ammal temple in Vadamadurai, Dindigul were recovered from brokers who were trying to sell the artifact for Rs 12 crore.

Built in the year 2007, the relatively new idols were stolen in 2021 from the temple by a gang at knifepoint after locking up the priest and officials of the temple.

The stolen idol are of Perumal, Sreedevi, Bhudevi, Chandrasekara and Parvati.

On 21, May 2021, S Prabhakaran of Mullipadi Dindigul, along with two of his associates Kumar of T Kallupatti and Eswaran Venkatesan of Seelaivadi, Dindigul carried out the crime and walked away with the idols. After a few days, G Paulraj, M Dinesh, and S Ilvarasan, of Dindigul, were entrusted with the task of selling them.

The Idol Wing sleuths posing as buyers approached the brokers and convinced them to show the idols after which the idols were shown to the buyers. After confirming the idols were the stolen artifact, police team seized them and arrested Paulraj, Dinesh and Prabakaran, who were in possesion of the idols.

Idol Wing investigators are now looking for Eswaran and Kumar.