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The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu police to complete the investigation into the case of the disappearance of a statue of a peacock from the Arulmighu Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Chennai before the next date of hearing. Court has asked the police to submit the final report with or without the certificate of the Archaeological Department.

The Public Prosecutor had apprised the bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D.Bharatha Chakravarthy that though the investigation has been completed, the final report could not be filed in the absence of the certificate of the Archaeological Department.

He submitted that the certificate is to be obtained from the Archaeological Department and they are in the process to get the certificate to submit a final report because the allegation is of theft of an idol, which has archaeological value.

To this, Court directed, "In view of the above, let this petition be listed on 14.06.2022...the concerned police are directed to complete the investigation and for that purpose, the Archaeological Department is directed to furnish the certificate, if permissible and possible, otherwise the final report may be prepared awaiting the report thereupon, which can be filed through a supplementary charge-sheet/final report, but in any case, the investigation would be completed."

Court also directed the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE Dept.) to show the progress of the fact-finding inquiry on the fixed date. 

The HR&CE Dept. had told the Court that since certain issues require the matter to be referred to an independent person, the Government has taken a decision to nominate a retired Judge to take up and complete the fact-finding inquiry so that the inquiry remains uninfluenced. 

In this regard, the Advocate-General had submitted that retired Judge Justice K Venkataraman has already been nominated and the fact-finding inquiry would be completed at the earliest.

The case is linked to the alleged theft of an idol of a peacock from Punnaivananathar Sannidhi in Kapaleeswarar temple in the year 2004. The allegation is that the original peacock carrying a flower on its beak had been shifted out of the temple during its consecration in 2004 and replaced with an identical idol of the bird holding a snake on its beak.

Case Title: Rangarajan Narasimhan v. The Board of Trustees And 6 Others