VILLUPURAM:It seemed to be a hair-raising scene from a horror movie — a skeleton seemed to have made its way from a graveyard to the roadside in Villupuram town — but turned out to be the work of grave robbers.
According to local sources, a few residents were returning home after catching the night show in a theatre at K K Road, when they spotted the skeleton near a temple.
The panicked group immediately informed the town police. Following this, a posse of policemen rushed to the spot and began investigating the place.
Suspecting foul play by grave-diggers at the K K road graveyard situated nearby, police quizzed two gravediggers, Anbazhagan (35) and Ganesh Babu (36), both from Villupuram town.
During interrogation, the duo confessed to have been acting as agents for supplying skeletons to a Chennai-based dealer, who paid them `5,000 for a complete set of skull and bones. The duo, who had obtained yet another order, dug up a skeleton from the cemetery and kept it near the temple in order to pack it up and transport it. However, their plan was foiled after the road users spotted the skeleton.
Town police officials detained the duo and are grilling them to find out more about the skeleton trade and whether more people were involved.
Sources said that officials are suspecting the involvement of the main grave digger at the graveyard, who had sub-contracted the work to Anbazhagan and Ganesh Babu.