Tiruvannamala: A precious ‘Maragatha Lingam’ (Shiva Lingam carved out of emerald) from a hill temple belonging to the ‘Vettavalam Jamin’ in Tiruvannamalai district, which reportedly went missing in January 2017, has been found on Wednesday and retrieved to the temple.
In a miraculous re-discovery as it were, a sanitary worker cleaning up the temple premises of the ‘Vettavalam Jamin’, stumbled on the ‘Maragatha Lingam’ when he was burning heaps of garbage around 6 pm on Wednesday evening, sources said, adding, the worker promptly informed the authorities about it.
After the 2017 incident, in which some gold and silver jewellery of the Jamin temple were also reportedly missing, top police officials had then visited the temple, including then range DIG Tamizhchandran and Tiruvannamalai SP, Ms Ponni, sources said. Two special police teams constituted by them were investigating the case. Meanwhile, the ‘Maragatha Lingam’ was found today.
As the news spread, locals from Vettavalam village thronged the temple and were visibly joyous at seeing the ‘Maragatha Lingam’ back again, that too found in the temple premises itself. They are hoping that the ‘Lingam’ would be reinstalled in the shrine for worship at the earliest.
On information, a team from the state idol wing police led by ADSP Mr. Madhavan, DSP, Mr. Ramesh and Vettavalam police station inspector Mr Nagaraj visited the spot and took safe custody of the ‘Maragatha Lingam’. Special SIs, Mr Ravi, Mr Karunanidhi and police constable Mr Koteeshwaran, were also with them.
Further investigations are on.
