Chennai, Jan 1 (BPNS)

The idol wing of the Tamil Nadu police is on a hot pursuit on the source of the 500 crores worth Emerald Sivalingam that was recovered on Thursday from a bank locker at Thanjavur. ADGP K. Jayanth Murali who is heading the investigation told reporters that they are ascertaining from where the person in whose locker the 500 crores worth Emerald lingam was recovered on Thursday.

The Idol squad of the police had acted following a tip-off that antique idols were kept at a house in Thanjavur. They quizzed N.S. Arun, son of octogenarian Samiyappan, the owner of the lingam. However, he said that he does not know anything and that his father had kept an Emerald Lingam at the bank locker. Police found the emerald lingam and experts including custodians of antique materials like Dharmapuram Adheenam have confirmed it to be original.

Police are investigating whether the lingam was the one that went missing from a Siva temple at Thirukuvalai in Nagapattinam district in 2016. Jayant Murali told media persons that Samiyappan and Arun are cooperating with the investigation.

An emerald Sivalingam idol had gone missing from the Adi Sankara Janmabhoomi in Aluva, Kerala in 2009 and there was no clue as to where it has gone. Kerala police had constituted a Temple Theft Special Investigation Team but the elite team that cracked several other temple theft cases could not crack this and the idol still remains elusive. Police are investigating whether the idol that was recovered from the bank locker has any connection to the one stolen from Aluva.