Three 1,000 year-old panchaloha idols costing about Rs 10 lakh were stolen from Sri Raja Narayana Perumal temple in Villipuram district on Friday, according to TNIE report.

These idols were kept for consecration at the Raja Narayana temple for the past three months.

Duraisamy, president of Kooghaiyur village said it is a tradition of the villagers to borrow these idols from Sri Soornaburiswarar temple and use them for poojas.

The idols were found missing in the morning by the priest Ananda Narayanan on Friday morning when he opened the temple to start puja. 

The idols weigh 20 kg and have a height of 3 and 3 ½ in height.

The robbers also tried to rob a bronze arch of the Perumal idol but left it near the temple compound wall. The bronze arch is about five feet high.

The HR & CE department officials and forensic department personnel came for investigation at the temple place.