Man steals gold coin from temple in Coimbatore, held

COIMBATORE: A 38-year-old man was caught red-handed stealing a gold coin from a roadside temple in the city on Friday. The Singanallur (investigation wing) police said S Senthilprabhu, of Ondipudur, had gone to the Gopalakrishna Perumal Kovil at Neelikonampalayam in the morning on the pretext of offering prayers.
“He suddenly grabbed the gold coin weighing 2g that was kept by the side of the main deity’s idol and tried to escape.The temple priest raised an alarm and other devotees caught Senthilprabhu red-handed,” a police officer said. Senthilprabhu was handed over to the Singanallur police, who arrested him and seized the stolen property.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Gopalakrishnan, who used to make a living by selling phenyl liquid cleaner across the city, had stolen gold ornaments weighing 5g from the Kannimar Karupparayan temple at Neelikonampalayam on Thursday night.