When the sensational temple break-in at Ettumanoor occurred on May 23, 1981, it left the devotees stunned. The ruling Left government was also caught on its back foot.
The golden idol of Shiva, weighing about 5.5 kg, a silver pedestal and a few other valuable items of religious significance were lost in the theft.
The police were initially clueless. The culprit had successfully breached the security of the sanctum sanctorum and decamped with the valuables without anyone noticing. The only available information was of a car that was allegedly used by the culprit, but the probe into that front did not yield any results.
It was then that the police decided to dry the temple tank as the police dog had gone there three times, chasing the scent. And they found a crowbar, which was used to break open the sanctum sanctorum, from the tank.
Though a crucial piece of evidence, there was nothing in it that could help the investigators decrypt the puzzle. And it was then that an unnamed police constable from Ettumanoor station spotted a crumpled piece of paper floating in the tank.
The damp paper was retrieved, but none felt it could soon turn out to be a ‘smoking gun’.
That small piece of paper had the following lines — ‘A letter to the Class Teacher’. It contained details such as a name, the class and the school.
The name of the student was S Ramani, a Class VIII student of Parassala. The police detected that the paper was used to wrap the crowbar, and they decided to track down Ramani. They knew the key to the whole episode rested with her.
The police soon knocked at Ramani’s doorsteps. From her, the investigators learned that the paper was part of her older composition book, which was sold to a nearby scrap dealer for a paltry amount that could barely fetch her a few pints of kerosene.
The cops knew they were close to solving the case. They questioned the scrap dealer, Kochukunjan Nadar, and he identified the paper. He remembered using it for wrapping a crowbar he had sold to two men a few days ago.
The revelation led the cops to Stephen, a resident of Dhanuvachapuram. The 23-year-old had already been involved in a few criminal cases, including murder. It was for making a few quick bucks that he committed the theft.
A man of extreme physical dexterity brought about by years of hard training in southern Kalaripayattu, Stephen managed to scale two big walls by gripping the crowbar with his teeth, without alerting seven security men.
The cops took him into custody, and he confessed to the crime. The idol was found buried in a betel leaf garden near his house at Dhanuvachapuram. Within a fortnight, the cops were able to solve the case and bring back the idol and other valuables to Ettumanoor.
Stephen later turned to spirituality after his release from prison.
