CHENNAI, TIRUCHY: Idol Wing CID sleuths have arrested two persons for allegedly stealing a 300-year-old Hanuman idol from a temple in Patteeswaram in 2019. On Thursday, S Neelakandan was arrested near Kumbakonam and later police recovered the stolen idol from his house at Thiruttani.
On Friday, V Manikandan was arrested based on information provided by Neelakandan. As per experts, the Hanuman idol is over 300 hundred years old and it was placed by the Nayaka kings in the 1,000-year-old Arulmiku Denupuriswarar temple at Patteeswaram.
Idol Wing CID Additional Superintendent Of Police (ADSP) G Balamurugan met reporters in Tiruchy and said the idol was stolen from the temple in October 2019. With Patteeswaram police getting no lead in the case for over a year, the probe was transferred to Idol Wing CID in 2020.
A team led by Balamurugan was formed and they combed CCTV footage for people who moved under suspicious circumstances near the temple. On December 12, 2022, a person resembling one of the suspects was nabbed near the Kumbakonam highway. Police identified the suspect as S Neelakandan hailing from Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district.
“During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and also told us about Manikandan’s role in the crime. The duo had planned to sell the idol abroad. We traced Manikandan to Vellore and arrested him on Friday. Both the suspects have been remanded in judicial custody and lodged in Tiruchy Central Prison,” police said.