Cuddalore, September 22, 2013: A 3.5-foot-tall temple ‘kalasam’ made of copper and weighing about 15 kg was found abandoned on the roadside at Periyar Nagar in Thittakudi on Saturday.

Town panchayat chairnan Needhimannan, who went for his morning walk, found the kalasam on a cement slab covering a drainage.

Police found a paper pasted to the ‘kalasam’ with a message in Tamil which read: ‘Oh God, please forgive us. Residents of Edachithur should have mercy on us. The kalasam belongs to the temple at Edachithur.

Ever since six of us stole it, we have been run into great difficulty. We will never commit such a crime in our life.’

According to police, the kalasam from Siva temple at Edachithur went missing about six months ago

Source: The Hindu, September 22, 2013