It is unfair to arrest an employee of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department without a proper enquiry, the State president of the Federation of All HR&CE Associations N.L. Sridharan said.
Last week, the Idol Wing of the Crime Branch CID arrested M. Kavitha, Additional Commissioner (Thiruppani) of the department; she is suspected to have been involved in a case of misappropriation of gold and funds donated for making idols for the Sri Ekambareswarar temple in Kancheepuram.
“There is an ulterior motive behind arresting her and that’s what we are against. She is an honest officer. Without any proper enquiry, they have arrested a staff of the department. This is just not done,” he said.
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He said the association was not blindly backing someone but was standing by those who had clearly been falsely implicated in a case.
“There have been cases wherein people whose names had not been mentioned in the FIR have been arrested. In many cases, even though the FIRs are filed, there are no charge sheets,” he added.
Of nearly 800 temples in the State coming under the HR&CE department, 478 idols had been stolen and 56 had been recovered, he added.
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“We will stage a huge protest very soon,” he added.