In a relief to TVS Motor Chairman Venu Srinivasan, the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to him and Tamil Nadu chief stapathy Muthiah in an idol theft case.

The anticipatory bail was in connection with an FIR registered for the alleged theft of idols from the Sri Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore, Chennai. The FIR, registered based on a complaint from a devotee, alleged that Srinivasan and others, including temple officials, replaced an antique peacock idol with a new one at the temple.

The anticipatory bail, issued by a Special Division Bench comprising of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice PD Audikesavalu, comes at the end of six weeks time that idol wing police gave to the Court for not arresting Srinivasan.

Srinivasan sought advance bail expressing a “reasonable apprehension” of arrest in connection with the case. He cited a writ petition filed by advocate ‘Elephant’ G Rajendran that referred to the FIR registered by the Mylapore police station against him, which was later transferred to the CB-CID Idol Wing.

Srinivasan, in his anticipatory bail application, said that in 2004 the State government wanted to organise Kumbabhishekams at various temples for which a ‘Koil Thiruppani Committee’ was constituted, and he was made a member.

The execution of works was, however, done by the respective temple executive officers as well as officers from the HR&CE Department.

Claiming that he was innocent, Srinivasan said that he had no other connection with the Kapaleeswarar temple, except that he was also a devotee.

Related Topics