Seven persons were arrested and three idols recovered from them. The idols had been reportedly stolen from Somasundareswarar Temple at Serakulam in Seidunganallur.
The theft occurred on September 28, 2004. The recovered idols worth around Rs. 3.5 lakh were identified as Lord Nataraja and Sivagami Amman idols, K.P. Shanmuga Rajeswaran, DIG Tirunelveli Range, told reporters here on Friday.
The idols recovered would be dispatched to the Archaeological Survey of India for further investigation to ascertain the veracity, he said.
The arrested were A. Shanmuga Velayutham (36)of Serakulam, P. Murugan(35) of Naduvakurichi, S. Mariappan (35) of Naduvakurichi, A. Ganesan(27) of Samathanapuram, Palayamkottai, N. Muthu (31) of Melapalayam, K.Sankar (34) of Kottur, Palayamkottai, and P. Balamurugan (38) of Senthilnagar, Palayamkottai.
A manhunt had been launched to nab Doss, one more accused in the case, he said. Following a complaint lodged with Thalamuthunagar police station on the night of March 10, the jewels which had been stolen, were recovered safely.
Burglary
R. Prabu from Dindigul was arrested in connection with a house burglary. Referring to the search operation, he said that a special team was formed to nab the culprit, who decamped with 45 sovereigns of gold ornaments worth Rs. 5 lakh.
Based on his confession, 6.5 sovereigns of gold ornaments, which had been reportedly stolen, were also recovered.
A case has been filed at Madhagupatti police station in Sivaganga district.
Seven arrested
In yet another case, seven more persons were arrested recently following complaints of cheating the buyer by selling the fake emerald “linga” (green maragadhalingam), which is precious. The incident occurred on March 15, 2010. The arrested were P. Pandi (44) Tirunelveli, P. Arumugam (47) Tirunelveli, M. Nambirajan (37) Tirunelveli, S. Murugan (36) Tirunelveli, J. Ponraj (36) Tuticorin, J.Ashok (34) Sivakasi and S. Kathirvel of Kallakurichi, Vilupuram district.
A team of police personnel was formed exclusively to detect the cases pending and Mr. Rajeswaran hoped that it would be solved.
An intensive investigation would be made, he added. Superintendent of Police, T. Senthil Kumar, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Anil Kumar Giri, Inspector of Police, M. Deivendran, the Tuticorin North and other police personnel were present.
