Duo makes away with 10 sovereigns from deity

CHENNAI: Two persons, who went to a temple at Pallavaram under the pretext of conducting special puja on Friday morning, made way with 10 sovereigns of gold that adorned the deity.Police said the special pujas at Sridevi Periyapalayathamman Koil, a 100 year-old temple located at Yasin Khan Street, Pallavaram, were conducted every Friday, during which the deity would be decorated with gold ornaments. On Friday, priest Senthamarai (70), who lived in a house attached to the temple, conducted a puja at 6.30 am as devotees thronged in large numbers seeking divine blessings.Police said that at 7.30 am, when the puja was completed and the devotees were leaving, a man, who could have been in his mid-forties, and a teenage girl remained in the temple. When the priest questioned them, the man gave  a Rs. 500 note and asked him to conduct the same puja again for them, police said. The priest replied that the puja would be conducted only once on Fridays and that they may come next week if they wanted to participate in it.Police said the man and the priest kept arguing, when the girl stealthily walked into the sanctum sanctorum and removed a gold chain from the deity. “Once the girl came out, the man quietly left with her and the priest realised that the gold chain had been stolen only after he went inside again. But, by the time he came out looking for them them, they were gone,” said a police officer.Pallavaram police, who have registered a case, suspect that it could have been a father-daughter duo.