The Idol Wing police arrested the chief ‘sthapathi’ of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department and a former member of the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission (TNPSC) on Sunday on charges of manipulating the casting of an important idol to replace the ‘navabhasana’ presiding deity at the Dhandayuthapani Swami temple in 2004.
M. Muthiah Sthapathi, famed for constructing mega temples across the world and a Padma Shri awardee, was arrested along with K.K. Raja, who was the executive officer of the Palani temple when the alleged offence took place.
Mr. Raja went on to become a member of the TNPSC. He is the son-in-law of a Minister.
Inspector General of Police Pon Manickavel said it was a major conspiracy to replace the original presiding deity Dhandayuthapani, made by ‘siddhar’ Bogar, with a replica. After 2003, a decision was taken to replace the original idol with a new one. The hidden agenda was to make the public believe that the replica was the original and remove the original idol under the pretext that it was damaged so that it could be smuggled out of the country to be sold at an art gallery.
In pursuance of the conspiracy, they decided to make a new idol of five metals weighing 200 kg. Muthia Sthapathi was assigned the task of making the idol by HR&CE officials, including Raja. The temple authorities spent nearly ₹60 lakh for this. Several devotees donated metals, including gold. Recently, a team from IIT-Madras inspected it and reported that the new idol was without the specified quantities of the five metals, including gold. The police team arrested Muthiah Sthapathi in Chennai and Raja in Coimbatore.
