Public attention apparently garnered by the remote South Poigainallur village near here following the installation of erstwhile LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s statue was short-lived, after it was found removed under mysterious circumstances from the Sevugaraya Ayyanar temple, the Indian Express reported.

“Even as some villagers and political outfits claimed that a team of police personnel had taken down the controversial statue clandestinely, the police denied the allegations, and claimed that the statue was pulled down by the villagers themselves.

After the Sevugaraya Ayyanar temple, located along the Nagapattinam and Velankanni coast, was constructed about six months ago by about 80 families of South Poigainallur and was subsequently consecrated on Thursday, the five-feet tall cement statue of Prabhakaran had been attracting visitors reportedly from across the State.

Though the villagers had earlier asserted that the purpose of erecting the statue of the former LTTE chief was only to impart courage and bravery for future generations, a section of the villagers on Saturday morning claimed that a battery of police personnel visited the Sevugaraya Ayyanar temple at about 1 am. They alleged that the statue of Prabhakaran posing near a white horse statue and holding a rifle was taken down by the police team in their absence,” the article said.

“There was a power outage during the wee hours of Saturday and we saw a couple of police vehicles approaching the Ayyanar temple. In the morning, Prabhakaran’s statue was missing,” said a villager. Later, there was no trace that the statue existed in the Ayyanar temple as fresh paint covered the spot and the statue was nowhere to be found.With media representatives visiting the temple, the villagers reasoned that the LTTE’s chief statue had fallen by itself.

Following the allegation levelled at the police department, a police source said, “The statue of the LTTE chief in the Ayyanar temple was taken down by the villagers. South Poigainallur villagers told us that the installation of Prabhakaran’s statue was done by mistake. The police was not involved in the act.”A senior police officer said the Nagapattinam police had been discussing on whether to take action against those behind the installation of the statue.