Chennai: Tamilnadu idol wing police were yesterday directed by the Madras High Court to thoroughly probe a complaint filed in 2017 about the idol thefts in Sri Ranganathar temple in Srirangam.
Justice R Mahadevan and Justice PD Audikesavalu who were constituted for dealing with temple matters gave the directive.
The case was filed on 3 November 2017. The petitioner Rangarajan Narasimhan had claimed the involvement of the HR and CE department, trustees and priests of the temple in the idol thefts. However, the counsel for HR and CE submitted voluminous materials as proof claiming that renovation works at the temple were carried out during the period of 2015-2017 and that the idols and artefacts, which were alleged to have been stolen, were available at the temple premises. Also the department charged the petitioner of putting up defaming posts on the social media.
The bench had earlier directed the idol wing officials to visit the temple and find out the facts. To which the officials submitted that a detailed enquiry is to be conducted so as to unravel the truth. Following this, the bench said all the parties involved in the case should submit relevant materials substantiating their stands and that they also should be given opportunity to have their say. “Without going into the merits of the claims made by the respective parties, the court directs the idol wing to conduct a thorough investigation into the complaint of the petitioner.”