CHENNAI: Drawing flak from various quarters for not doing much in recovering the idols stolen from the ancient temples, the idol wing police on Saturday thwarted an attempt to sell a Panchaloha idol of Lord Murugan, said to be stolen from a temple in Nemili village near Arakkonam, and arrested a man from Guindy.
The idol, which weighs nearly 3.5 kg was about to be sold to for Rs. 1 crore and it was kept at a lathe at Ekkattuthangal in Guindy here. Following a tip off, at around 2 pm, Idol Wing Special Officer IG Pon Manickavel, ASP Rajaram, DSP Sundaram, Head constables: Venkatesan, Natarajan, Samiyappan, Arul moses and constables Praveen Mohan and Karthik raided the workshop at Ekkattuthangal and recovered the idol of lord Muruga.
Sivakumar, the lathe owner who was arrested, would be taken to Kumbakonam to be produced before the special court for idol theft cases.
Preliminary inquiries reveal that the idol could have been stolen from a temple in Nemili village near Arakkonam about two years ago. About three persons were planning to sell the idol for Rs. 1 crore but the idol wing sleuths thwarted the attempt.