A team of the Idol Wing-CID, with the help of Fire and Rescue Services personnel, on Monday carried out a search in the Kapaleeswarar temple tank in Mylapore for a peacock idol, which was reported to be missing from Punnaivananathar shrine since 2004.
On July 23, 2018, Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam lodged a complaint against a few individuals, including archakas and temple officials, about theft of three idols, including that of Parvathi in the form of peacock, at the Kapaleeswarar temple.
The complaint was investigated by the Idol Wing and it came to light that three idols — Parvathi in the form of peacock, Raahu and Kethu — were swapped at the time of kumbabhishekam of the temple held in 2004 and subsequently stolen. In connection with this, a case has been pending in the Madras High court.
The Idol Wing recently submitted to the court that some witnesses had claimed that the peacock idol might have been buried in the temple tank. The police said they had approached experts from Anna University to ascertain the availability of a mechanism to locate the stone idol without causing disturbance to the temple tank bed. The court gave another opportunity to explore the possibility of tracing the idol.
On Monday, personnel from the Idol Wing CID and Fire and Rescue Services went around in rubber boats in the temple tank and conducted a search. Divers were engaged in the search operation.
Idol Wing CID DGP K. Jayanth Murali said: “The experts at Anna University used the ground penetration radar at places where the idol or other things were buried, including under Punnai tree. We found some pillars and other things but we were not able to trace the idols.”
“Today, we deployed divers from Fire and Rescue Services and they searched everywhere in the temple tank but we could not find anything. We have to study the sub-surface level of the tank and are taking the assistance from experts from the National Institute of Ocean Technology who have specialised equipment. We are planning to do that study next week,” he told The Hindu.
“Some eyewitnesses said the idol could be buried within the temple premises or in the temple tank as per agama and so we carried out the search,” he said.
