Idol theft case: TVS Motor's Venu Srinivasan gets more political support

Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan has come out in Srinivasan's support

Following a first information report (FIR) filed against him related to an alleged idol theft case in Tamil Nadu, TVS Motor Company Ltd Chairman Venu Srinivasan has received more support from various political parties on Sunday, including from Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan.   

In a statement issued on Sunday, Radhakrishnan said that the FIR against Venu Srinivasan would raise doubts among the public that whether this is a move to save the original culprits or to divert the course of the investigation. He said that Srinivasan has been spending his own funds for the maintenance of temples and helping the poor. 

He also demanded that the government conduct the investigation honestly and bring in the actual culprits and punish them, to prevent similar thefts from temples. 

R Mutharasan, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Tamil Nadu, also condemned the move to book Srinivasan in such a case. He added that there should be a probe into who instigated the inclusion of Srinivasan's name in the FIR. 

Earlier, S Gurumurthy, an ideologue behind the Swadeshi movement and currently the non-official, part-time director of the Reserve Bank of India, and MDMK leader Vaiko had come out in support of Srinivasan.

On Thursday, Srinivasan moved the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail against an FIR filed by the CBCID Idol Wing, Tamil Nadu, related to an idol theft case of allegedly replacing a 1400-year-old peacock idol at Chennai's Kapaleeswarar temple. Srinivasan said that he came to know about the FIR from a petition filed by an advocate in the Madras High Court earlier and pleaded innocence in the matter. Srinivasan has been on the committee constituted by the government for conducting consecration of temples in the state. 

The Idol Wing has submitted an undertaking with the Madras High Court on Friday that it will not arrest Srinivasan for six weeks.