"Public Prosecutor" from Madurai arrested for stealing from several temples and shops; previous case history shocks everyone

IDUKKI: Tamil Nadu native arrested for stealing from several temples and shops in Kottayam and Idukki districts. Saravana Pandian alias Ramakrishnan (39), a native of Madurai, was arrested by the Peruvanthanam police. He was known as the Public Prosecutor in his hometown. He is an accused in 20 theft cases and has served jail time in many of them.

On May 29, the police arrested him in a case in which he broke into the sanctum sanctorum of the Subrahmanya Swamy temple in Peruvanthanam Boys Estate and stole the gold Thaali that was laid on the idol and Rs 40,000 that was in offering receptacles (kanikka vanchi).

He was called the Public Prosecutor because he always walked around in the hometown dressed as a lawyer. The police also say that he has settled more than a hundred cases by claiming to be a lawyer. It is also said that he has studied LLB. His wife is a lawyer in Tamil Nadu and is separated from him. There is a case against him for threatening the collector by calling him on the phone and claiming to be a lawyer. There are 14 cases pending against him in Mundakkayam, Ponkunnam, Kanjirappally and Pala police stations for breaking into shops and stealing in 2009. He had served a jail sentence in 2019 for thieving in the Ponkunnam police station limits. The police said that he was also the one who stole the Thiruvabharanam from the Pala Melampara Dharma Sastha temple. The police also recovered three sovereign gold necklaces that he had stolen.