Sri Kapali Temple idol case: judges taken aback that dept. records have been destroyed

A government advocate representing the state’s Idol Theft Wing – CID Police has told a bench of Madras High Court that records of the 1994 period of Sri Kapali Temple, Mylapore have been destroyed.

This statement was made in the case wherein a petitioner pursuing this case says the original image of the peacock with a flower in its beak in one of the temple’s sannidhis was removed and another image placed in that place during the kumbhabishekam of the temple in 1994. It is not yet know what happened to the original idol.

The advocate said that officers of HR&CE Department which manages temples gave evasive replies when the police sought the official files.

The IG of Police, A G Ponn Manickavel says the officials worked on a weekend to destroy files and that they have been summoned for investigation.

The two judges on the Court bench, justices R. Mahadevan and P. D. Audikesavalu expressed shock at the submission of the advocate and have asked the HR&CE’s advocate to get instructions from the department officials on this issue.

Police have already questioned senior officials of the department who served at the temple during the 1994 period.