Police arrest 4 suspects, recover Panchaloha idol

TIRUVANNAMALAI: A day after a seven-member

gang

– suspected to be involved in stealing idols from temples, was detained during a surprise vehicle check at Kannamangalam village, police investigation found four of the suspects acting as middlemen for selling a Panchaloha

idol

.


Police had unearthed the idol buried along the banks of Kamandala river. They are searching for two prime accused who handed over the idol to the suspects.

The four were identified as Gokulan, 28, Dinesh, 24, Hari Raja, 26, all three hailing from Kannamangalam, and Thirumalai, 28, of Naganadhi village in Vellore.

At a press meet, Arani DSP P Senthil Kumar said Katukkanallur village administrative officer (VAO) Murugan saw a four-member gang, headed by Gokulan, moving suspiciously in the area on Saturday evening.

The VAO, who followed the suspects to Kamandala river flowing through Kannamangalam village, found them negotiating a deal for the idol that they had buried on the bank of the river.

Murugan immediately alerted the Kannamangalam police.

Based on the information, Kannamangalam police headed by inspector Jayakumar, idol wing CID inspector Vinayagamoorthy and Arani DSP Senthil Kumar conducted a surprise vehicle check in the area and detained the seven-member gang.

On questioning them, the four identified suspects revealed that they were assigned the task of selling the idol by Sakthivel and Silambu, the kingpin of the racket.

The four said they were looking for an apt customer who could shell out Rs 2 crore for the idol.

Sakthivel and Silambu hail from Keezhvellam and Kammasamudhiram villages respectively.

Police

arrested

the gang and confiscated the four-armed 26cm-long and 11cm-wide Panchaloha idol of Bhuvaneshwari Amman.

The arrested were lodged in Vellore central prison.


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