Source: The Hindu
TIRUNELVELI, INDIA, February 23, 2002: A tip-off given by a shepherd helped the police recover eight panchaloha (made of five metals) icons worth thousands of dollars, which were stolen from two ancient temples near here in the last two months. The DIG of Police, T. Rajendran, said that some unidentified miscreants took away four icons from the over four-century old Venkatesa Perumal Temple at Naranammalpuram about eight kilometers from here. On January 20, five icons were stolen from the Venkatachalapathi Temple at Narasinganallur. Karisoozhnthan, 13-year-old shepherd boy while grazing cattle near Tenkalam on Friday, spotted some shining objects beneath heaps of rejected limestones. A police party combed the area with the help of a sniffer dog and retrieved seven more icons from the heaps of limestones. The icon of Vishwat Thevar stolen from the Narasinganallur temple is yet to be retrieved.