The police on Wednesday arrested movie-maker V. Sekar for his alleged links with the gang
Idols worth Rs 77 crore recovered in May this year. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: Sleuths on the trail of temple raiders in Tamil Nadu say at least two times vehicles carrying idols stolen from ancient temples had managed to pass through police check posts. On one occasion, a woman traveling in a car had flashed a ‘press’ identity card, while on the other, a sub inspector from Chennai was in the vehicle.
The idol wing police are now conducting a detailed probe into the activities of smugglers who managed to lift eight idols, valued at Rs 77 crore, from two temples in Tiruvannamalai and a temple in Kancheepuram in January this year.
The police on Wednesday arrested movie-maker V. Sekar for his alleged links with the gang. Apart from him, the police in May this year had arrested a film production executive named Dhanalingam and an employee of a government printing press Karunakaran.
Woman reporter’s disclosure helps cops
It was Malathy, a reporter of a Tamil monthly and sister of Karunakaran, who decided to disclose everything to police after she started receiving threatening calls from other suspects.
Police have so far identified sub inspector Ravi Chandran, Jayakumar, a resident of Red hills, Mari, Vijayaraghavan and Shanmugham – the three who actually executed the theft using hi-tech equipment.
Mari is a specialist with gas cutters and drilling machines. Vijayaraghavan is a college student. Six other accomplices are wanted by police.
After Jayakumar identified the temples, the looters broke into the shrines, removed the specified idols in less than 10 minutes. They kept the idols in the vehicle, which will have Malathy or Ravichadran as cover. The vehicles carrying idols were stopped by police at check post at Tiruvannamalai. But seeing a woman flashing a ‘press’ card, and a policeman inside, the vehicles were allowed to go without any check, sources said.
The idols were initially kept in Jayakumar’s house. Later, they were shifted to movie maker Sekar’s premises after he promised to identify buyers. As it was not happening, the idols were given to Dhanalingam for safekeeping. When he was moving the idols to another place, the police arrested him in May this year.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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