House of temple’s ex-staff sealed

On Thursday, Assistant Commissioner (HR and CE) Ilayaraja, Thiruvidaimaruthur Tahsildhar Rajeshwari along with the sealed Raja’s house as per the orders of the High Court. Raja had urged a few days’ time to vacate the house, however, the officials had refused.

Subsequently, Raja’s wife Abineshwari (35) and grandmother Chandra (80) went to the backyard of the house and consumed pesticide. Soon, the emergency ambulance service was alerted and they were rushed to Kumbakonam government hospital.

Meanwhile, Raja said that they have been residing in the house for over 15 years. “The case is to be heard in the court on July 11. Fearing that I would reveal the involvement of the officials, they have sealed my house,” said Raja.

Panthanallur police had filed a case against 10 current and former HR & CE officials and trust members of the Kumbakonam Pasupatheeshwarar temple, where several idols had gone missing, for altering evidences.

The complaint was lodged by the petitioner Venkatraman who had sought the Madras High Court to file a case against Raja, former trust members Pasupathi Pillai, Manoharan, G Manoharan, HR and CE officials Gajendran, Gnanasekaran, Mariappan, Jeevanantham and Ravi for tampering the facts and helping the idol smugglers by altering the stock room of the temple.

While the inspection by the IG (Idol Wing) AG Pon Manickavel revealed that around 60 idols had gone missing, the police could make only six idols went missing as the officials had failed to record the idol stocks in the movement register, which was not shown to the investigating officers.