Man climbs temple tower, seeks Pon Manickavel's reinstatement

A 30-year-old man climbed the tower of Kattu Azhagia Singar Temple here, demanding that the retired IPS officer Pon Manickavel be reinstated to probe the idol theft cases, police said on Thursday.

Ganesan scaled the tower stark naked and alleged largescale corruption in the Srirangam temple, they said.

He said only an officer like Pon Manickavel, whose tenure as special officer to investigate the idol theft cases ended last month, can bring out the truth, an official of the temple said.

The temple staff took 30 minutes to persuade the man to come down and send him out of the temple.

Police said they had not received any complaint about the incident which happened on Wednesday though they received intimation about it.

Manickavel was appointed as a special officer to head the Idol Wing CID and probe idol theft cases in the state for a year through a November 30, 2018 court order. This was also confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Manickavel is credited with cracking several cases and recovering various ancient idols worth crores of rupees during his stint with the idol wing of Tamil Nadu police.