A bronze idol belonging to the historic Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Nannimangalam village near Lalgudi in Tiruchirappalli district was reportedly stolen by unidentified persons, as reported in Dinamalar.
According to police, the temple, believed to have been built during the Chola period, is over 1,000 years old. The theft came to light on Monday morning when temple priest Lakshmanan arrived to open the shrine and discovered that the locks on the temple’s main entrance and inner precinct doors had been broken open and the temple’s bronze Utsavar (processional deity) idol was missing.
The stolen idol, made of bronze, is said to weigh around 11 kilograms and about one foot tall.
Interestingly, the cash kept in the temple hundi and temple jewellery were left untouched. However, the culprits removed the DVR unit connected to the temple’s CCTV surveillance system, apparently in an attempt to erase evidence of the crime.
Following a complaint, the Lalgudi Police registered a case and launched an investigation to identify those responsible for the theft and recover the stolen idol. Police are examining available evidence and pursuing multiple leads in the case.
#NewsUpdate | திருச்சி: லால்குடி அருகே நன்னிமங்கலம் கிராமத்தில் சுமார் 1200 ஆண்டுகள் பழமையான மீனாட்சி சுந்தரேஸ்வரர் கோயிலில் உற்சவர் சிலை திருட்டு
கோயில் நுழைவு வாயில் மற்றும் உட்பிரகாரங்களின் கதவுகளின் பூட்டுகள் உடைக்கப்பட்டு, சிவன் – பார்வதி ஒன்றாக இணைந்திருக்கும் ஒரு அடி… pic.twitter.com/aUixl7fp2A
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