MADURAI: The Idol Wing CID of police department arrested four persons on Wednesday for stealing five brass idols from Athinatha Perumal Ranganayaki Amman Temple in Vadamadurai of Dindigul in May 2021.
Sources said following a tip-off, the Idol wing personnel under the guise of an idol buyer approached the suspects, and after two week, the police team nabbed the four - G Paulraj (42), R Elavarasan (38), S Yovesh Prabakaran (31) and M Dinesh Kumar (24), all hailing from Dindigul district - when they showed the idol to the ‘buyer’.
They were arrested for stealing five idols: Gods Perumal and Sundareswarar, Goddesses Sridevi, Boodevi and Parvathi from the temple. Police said the gang, comprising a few more members, stole the idol after locking up the temple secretary Shanmugasundaram, priests Pandian and Rajkumar at knife-point. Though the temple is some centuries old, the idols were made in 2007. The idols will be handed over to the authorities,” they added.