Chennai: The Tirunelveli police on Thursday arrested four persons for allegedly stealing the silver palanquin of Chola period Sankaranarayanaswamy Temple in Sankarankoil, piece by piece over a period of time.
After devotees and political outfits claimed that the silver palanquin, weighing about 24 kg, had been missing and staged demonstrations demanding action in this regard, Pon Swaminathan, the deputy commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, filed a police complaint. On Wednesday, inspector general of police (Idol Wing - CID) A.G. Pon Manickavel visited the temple along with district Superintendent of Police P.Ve. Arunshakthikumar.
Later, four persons identified as Pattathuraja of Kamaraj Nagar in Sankarankoil, who was a temporary worker at the temple, and his associates Tilak Raj, Kalidas, and goldsmith Nagarajan of Sankarankoil were arrested and 3 kg of silver was recovered from them.
Police said that the palanquin was stolen by cutting it with a sharp blade. "The workers had access to the room from last October to June 2017. During that time they had noticed the palanquin and planned to steal it. Each time they went for cleaning work they come out with a part of the 1600-year-old article without getting noticed.
When one of the suspects brought the lion head shaped part of the palanquin, it fell from his hand at the pawn shop and local residents noticed it. The local residents informed the idol wing cops about it, after which the case was taken for investigation.
The Police team, which conducted searches in treasure room, were surprised to find around 100 panchaloha idols of Siva, worth over '800 crore in the international market with no security for them.
