Silver plates weighing about 20 kg were found stolen from a palanquin of a temple near here today, police said.
The silver plates, worth several lakhs, were ripped off totally from the palanquin of the Goddess Muthumariamman temple at Ilanjavur near Tirumayyam in the district.
According to initial investigation, burglars had scaled the wall of the temple and opened the shutter of the shed and stolen the silver plates before escaping through the back door by breaking open the lock, police said.
The theft was noticed by the priest and locals who went to the temple early this morning.
Senior police officials, including Superintendent of Police E S Uma, visited the temple.
