Case registered on missing idols after over 40 yrs

Four decades after an ancient Nataraja idol was stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu, the state idol wing police have registered a case.

The idol worth Rs 50 crore then was stolen in 1972 from a Shiva temple in Thandanthottam village near here, police said.

Earlier in 1971, five idols worth Rs 60 crore then were stolen from the same temple, they said.

After the second incident of theft, the other idols in the temple were shifted to the safety locker atthe Uppiliappan temple here.

Though a complaint was lodged, no case was registered for the past 47 years, and the local police did not give a proper explanation as to why a case was not registered.

It is suspected that the stolen Nataraja idol was in England, from where it had been smuggled to America.

Also, there were complaints that the idols in the locker had been replaced with fake ones and investigations were on to verify them.