Three men, including Kerala native, held by TN police for stealing Nandi idols from Karnataka

ERODE: Three men, including a youth from Kerala, were arrested for stealing two bronze Nandi idols from a temple in neighbouring Karnataka, police said here on Saturday.

When the trio was crossing a forest stretch in Bargur, Forest Department personnel intercepted their vehicle and questioned them, they said.

During searches, the two idols were found concealed in their vehicle.

As they did not provide convincing answers for possessing the metal sculptures, the three men were handed over to the police by forest officials.

The two Nandi idols, suspected to be centuries old, is yet to be examined by experts to ascertain if these were antique pieces or not, police said.

The three men were identified as Jayankondam (Ariyalur district) based Anandraj (32), Devaraj (23) of Anthiyur in Erode district and 19-year old Rizwan belonging to Malappuram district of Kerala.

The idols were stolen from a Lord Shiva temple in Karnataka, Erode District police said adding investigation was on.