Coming down heavily on the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE) for failing to protect antique temple idols, the MHC on Wednesday warned of ordering a CBI probe into the rampant idol thefts in Tamil Nadu if adequate steps are not taken by the state to check the growing menace. 

Justice R Mahadevan issued the warning while pointing out to the recent theft of a 15-inch bronze idol of lord Dhandapani and 9-inch Trishul from Tiruvannamalai Sri Arunachaleshwarar temple. He said, “If the HR & CE is not equipped to protect the artefacts and idols, then a separate department must be established in the state for the exclusive protection of the idols.” 

Earlier, when the batch of plea pertaining to recovering and preserving antique temple idols in TN came up, one of the petitioner advocate Elephant Rajendran moved a memo stating that a panchaloha Nataraja idol from Uma Maheswarar temple in Nagapattinam district and other idols worth several crores are kept in a small room without any basic protection. 

He further submitted that even a couple of policemen who guarded the room were also withdrawn recently. Rajendran said that a similar situation prevailed in Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple near Thanjavur wherein as many as 30 panchaloha idols worth about Rs 700 crore have been kept in a room secured with a lock worth Rs 150 and a 70-year-old woman to guard it. 

Another petitioner, submitted lack of action on his complaint about the theft of antique doors and idols part of Sri Ranganathar Temple at Sri Rangam. The matter has been posted to July 13 for further hearing.