Former Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department and retired IAS officer, M.Veera Shanmuga Moni was arrested by the Idol Wing of the Crime Branch-CID on Friday, on suspicion of his involvement in misappropriation of funds and gold collected towards the making of two idols at the Sri Ekambareswarar temple in Kancheepuram.
Police sources said the former commissioner issued orders to replace rare bronze idols of Shiva, Parvathi, Skandar (Murugan) and Ezhavarkuzhalamman with new ones from funds collected through public donations. New idols do not have any gold among other metals. The charge against Mr. Moni was that he failed to ascertain whether new idols were made with the specified quantity of gold and that he had failed to maintain the account on public donation.
