Four antique idols stolen from Madurai temple

Miscreants decamped with the idols of deities Vallaba Perumal, Sree Devi, Boomadevi and Sreenivasar. 

The stolen idols were 2-ft tall centuries-old antique idols each weighing about five kilogrammes, a source said. All four were kept in a room inside the temple. The Kadupatti police were alerted about the incident around 8 am by Executive Officer of the temple, Senthilkumar. However, a case was yet to be registered.

Joint Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments R Pachaiyappan, when contacted, said out of the seven antique idols in the temple, four were stolen. The front door of the temple, which he said was a famous ‘Guru kendram’, was found closed and the culprits could have climbed a tree nearby and entered the premises. However, he ruled out the possibility of anyone scaling the 20-ft high compound wall surrounding the temple.

In the wake of multiple idol theft cases in the State, surveillance was recently heightened with adequate CCTV cameras and burglar alarms in place in most of the 370 temples, which earn a collection of Rs 10,000 and over each per year, in Madurai, Theni and Dindigul. All the eight CCTV cameras inside the temple had recorded footage of the crime scene. K Mariselvam, a technician who installed the cameras, said the footage, which runs for about two hours, showed two masked men entering the temple at 11.57 pm on Saturday.

Kadupatti Sub-Inspector of Police S Ilangovan said the incident was caught on CCTV camera with the footage showing one culprit fully masked, while the eyes of the other were visible. The duo was suspected to be from North India. Though an alarm sounded around 12.15 am, the watchman at the shrine allegedly did not respond to it properly.

Madurai Superintendent of Police N Manivannan along with a team inspected the scene of crime and held inquiries with residents in the neighbourhood. He said three teams led by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Samayanallur Sub Division, have been formed to crack the case.