The two idols recovered from five men arrested by the Variety Hall Road police in Coimbatore city belonged to a temple near Saravanampatti, said officials involved in the investigation.
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The police said the idols were stolen from the temple at Chinna Mettupalayam near Saravanampatti in 2018 and a case was registered in connection with the incident.
Following the recovery of the two idols, the temple’s administration approached the police and shared details of the old case.
The police so far arrested U. Jayachandran (36) from Dharapuram, M. Balavenkatesh (36) from Selvapuram, Thirunavukkarasu (36) from Oddanchatram, Deenadayalan (38) and Arun (46) from Dindigul district.
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The gang was busted with the arrest of Jayachandran and Balavenkatesh with a piece of one of the idols on Sunday night. The police are on the lookout for one more accused named Dineshpandian from Madurai.
The Coimbatore City Police have shared details of the idols and the case to the Idol Wing of State police. The police have also sought the help of the Archaeology Department to ascertain the metal and age of the idols.
Six arrested with marijuana
The Coimbatore City Police on Wednesday arrested six persons and seized a total of 2.6 kg of marijuana from them. The Bazaar Street police arrested M. Kumar (31) from South Ukkadam and a 16-year-old boy from the locality with 280 g of the contraband. While the Kattoor police arrested V. Kannan (46) of Kavundampalayam with 1.8 kg of the narcotic, the Podanur police held N. Nowfal (25) of Vellalore with 100 g of the drug. V. Ganesan (30) of Nallampalayam and Sayed Anwar (23) of Rathinapuri were arrested by the Rathinapuri police with 420 g of marijuana in the special drive.