Thieves scale temple wall, steal idols in Trichy

Trichy: Miscreants broke into a temple managed by the Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR&CE) department by scaling its compound wall, vandalised CCTV cameras, snapped the power supply and decamped with brass idols from the shrine.The theft came to light on Tuesday when the priest of the ancient Sri Venugopala Krishnar Temple at Bhima Nagar Nishanth Manoj, opened the temple for the day’s rituals. Manoj found the lock of the utsavar (processional deity) sanctum was broken. On inspection, he discovered that the brass idols of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar were missing.Preliminary investigation indicated that the burglars did not enter through the main entrance, and instead scaled the compound wall.Temple executive officer Anuradha lodged a complaint with the sessions court police station. Police registered a case and launched an investigation.Officials of the idol wing CID also inspected the temple and joined the probe to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the theft and trace the stolen idols. Police are examining available evidence and questioning local residents while reviewing possible leads to identify those involved in the theft.