Tamil Nadu

Central minister bats for TVS boss Venu Srinivasan in idol theft case

Written by : IANS

There is more political support for TVS Motor Co Chairman Venu Srinivasan against whom a FIR has been lodged in a case of idol theft, with Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and CPI leader R Mutharasan backing him.

Pon Radhakrishnan took to Twitter to express his support to TVS Chief Venu Srinivasan. In a series of tweets, he said that it is crucial to find out and punish the culprits behind idol thefts in temples and that it is more important to prevent such incidents from happening.

“Public perception of Venu Srinivasan is that he spends crores of rupees for the upkeeping and maintenance of the temples without expecting anything in return,” said the tweet.

“Many devotees were wondering whether charging a person like Srinivasan was meant to divert the investigation or help the real culprits,” added another tweet in the thread.

CPI leader Mutharasan also came out in support of the industrialist and said it was astonishing that Srinivasan, the head of TVS Motor, was being charged in a temple idol theft case. He sought a probe to know on whose instance Srinivasan's name had been included in the FIR.

Earlier, MDMK founder Vaiko had demanded dropping of Srinivasan's name from the FIR.

Meanwhile, a police team investigating the theft of idol on August 10 told the Madras High Court that Venu Srinivasan won't be arrested for six weeks till the court hears the industrialist's anticipatory bail application.

In his bail application, Srinivasan referred to a writ petition filed by one Elephant G Rajendran. Venu Srinivasan said that in paragraph 12 of an affidavit submitted in support of his petition, Rajendran mentioned that an FIR had been filed against him.

Venu Srinivasan said he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the famed Srirangam Temple and that he had spent Rs 25 crore from his own pocket for the renovation of the entire holy complex.

He said Rs 70 lakh was also spent by him on painting works at Sri Kabaleeswarar temple in the heart of Chennai.

The industrialist also said that a private trust funded by him and his company had undertaken renovation of over 100 temples in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

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