The district police have decided to write to Ramanathapuram Samasthana Devasthanam and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to install CCTV cameras and burglar alarms in all the temples coming under their control in the district to prevent burglaries. Superintendent of Police, N.M. Mylvahanan, who visited the ancient Adhi Rathineeswarar Temple in Tiruvadanai on Tuesday, a day after burglars struck at the temple and decamped with four bronze idols, found that the temple had no CCTV cameras and burglar alarm system.
He said besides the iconic Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, the district had many ancient and historic temples, but none had CCTV cameras or burglar alarms except the Rameswaram temple. He would soon write to the HR&CE Commissioner and Devasthanam authorities to install cameras at the earliest, he said. Stating that the police were yet to make a breakthrough in the Monday temple burglary, the SP said preliminary investigations revealed the involvement of some local criminals and the police had obtained the list of criminals who had indulged in idol thefts both in Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts.
