THANJAVUR: The State idol wing police on Thursday seized an emerald lingam believed to be worth Rs 500 crore from the bank locker of a resident in Thanjavur. Based on a tip about temple idols being hoarded at a house in Arulananda Nagar Seventh Street in the city, a team led by additional superintendents of police R Rajaram and P Ashok Natarajan visited the house and questioned N S Aruna Baskar, a resident of the house. The man, according to sources, told police that his octogenarian father N A Samiyappan has an emerald lingam in his bank locker.
After Baskar said that his family didn’t possess any documents for it, the police team seized the 8cm tall and 500gm in weight idol. According to sources, an FIR is pending about an emerald lingam going missing from a temple in Tirukkuvalai in Tiruvarur district, and preliminary investigations showed that the recovered artefact could be the one.
A case has been registered under sections 41 (1) (d) (in possession of suspected stolen property) and section 102 (seizure by police officer any property which may be suspected to have been stolen) of the CrPC. Further investigations are on.