700-yr-old idol recovered

Three persons,who had burgled 700-year-old idols belonging to the Hoysala era from a temple in Hassan district, were arrested by the Kamakshipalya police.

The suspects are Ravish Kumar, 24, aresident of Thyamagondlu in Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru Rural district, Lokesh aliasLoki, 30, Kolal village in Koratagere taluk of Tumakuru district and Lokesh alias Govindaraju,29, from Peenya.

On a tip-off, the police arrested the three from Pipeline Road in Sunkadakatte and recovered anantique idol of Goddess Sridevimade of Panchaloha from Lokesh’s house. The price of the idol is estimated tobe around Rs one crore, added the police.

The suspects had broken open the locks of the Chennakeshavaswamy temple at Nallur village in Alur taluk in Hassan district recently and had burgled the idols of Chennakeshavaswamy and Sridevi.

Acase was registered with the Alur police. A few others are involved in the theft and they
are at large. The trio claimed that those who were absconding were in possession of the
Chennakeshavaswamy idol.

The police have intensified the search operation.