IIT experts assist police in inspecting Palani temple idol

MADURAI: An expert team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai on Saturday assisted the idol wing police to inspect a panchaloha idol at the Palani Dhandayudhapani temple in Dindigul district, which was detected with misappropriations in its casting.
The inspection has been necessitated after the chief sculptor, M Muthaiah Sthapathi and former executive officer (EO) of the Palani temple K K Raja were recently arrested for manipulation of the metals used in the casting of the idol, which is known as the abshisheka murthy.The duo were later granted conditional bail.
The panchaloha idol, a mixture of gold, silver, copper, brass and lead, was made in 2004 after the older and original navapashana idol was getting damaged. Recently, the idol wing police detected misappropriations in the casting, and Muthaiah Sthapathi who was commissioned to cast the idol and Raja, the then EO of the temple were arrested.