2 ‘panchaloha’ idols dumped on highway

According to police, the two antique idols were spotted by a shepherd near a dilapidated building nearby Coimbatore-Avinashi National Highways. Acting on his information, the rural police recovered the two idols, which were identified as those of Lord Venugopalswamy and Sathyabama.

Both the idols were stolen from Kallapalayam temple near Samalapuram in Tirupur district a month ago. The Mangalam police have registered a case of missing idols and special teams of police were on a search.

Following their recovery, the Coimbatore rural police handed over the seized idols to Mangalam police in Tirupur district. Police suspect that the smugglers have thrown away the idols fearing that they may be caught by police.

Police are scanning images recorded in CCTV to nab the culprits, who dumped the statues.