Coimbatore local police have arrested a man who tried to smuggle and sell a rare and precious idol of Goddess Saraswati near the Vellakoil area of the Coimbatore district.
Ramesh, who hails from Manthapuram near Vellakoil in Tirupur district, had bought a three-quarter-foot-tall, two-kilogram idol of Goddess Saraswati for ₹1 lakh from a man in Coimbatore. Local police have now arrested him while he was illegally trying to sell the statue.
The police then went on to recover the idol from him. It has been reported that the information about the semiprecious idol will be revealed only after a thorough examination. Research on the same will reveal how old the statue is and the monetary value of this semiprecious Saraswati idol. Police are conducting a serious investigation the fact that if the idol was stolen from the temple that they suspect and as to whom he bought it from.
A devotee from the area questioned that if the idol could be easily taken from a temple and sold, it was shocking as to how the temple authorities were monitoring the idols in the temple and how many idols like this were being smuggled and sold.
Netizens on social media have been commenting on the need to install CCTV cameras in all temples as the disappearance of idols in the temple is becoming a saga.
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