Bengaluru: Family immerses Lord Ganesh with Rs 4-lakh 6 tola gold chains, recovers it after 10-hours mud search

In west Bengaluru, a teacher’s family retrieved a valuable gold chain after mistakenly immersing it with a Ganesha idol decorated with the ornament in a mobile tank. The 60-gram gold chain, valued at Rs 4 lakh, was found following a 10-hour search that involved pumping out 10,000 liters of water and sifting through clay leftover from dissolved idols, a TOI report stated.

The incident occurred at Dasarahalli Circle in Vijayanagar. The idol was immersed by young individuals who later recovered the misplaced chain and returned it to the family on Sunday afternoon.

Teacher Ramaiah and his wife Umadevi, from Machohalli Cross near Govindarajanagar, adorned their Ganesha idol with flowers and a gold chain. After their pooja, they took the idol for immersion at around 9:15 pm but forgot to remove the chain. They realized the mistake after returning home and quickly returned to the tank by 10:30 pm. They approached the youths conducting the immersion, only to be told, "The boys told us they noticed the chain on the idol, thought it was an artificial one and immersed the idol along with the chain," according to Umadevi.


Umadevi's family informed local police and sought help from Govindarajanagar MLA Priya Krishna. Krishna then contacted Lankesh D, the contractor managing the mobile tank, urging him to assist in finding the chain.

Lankesh reported that he and his team searched throughout the night to no avail and continued the search the following morning. Eventually, after additional help arrived, they found the chain by midday Sunday.

"We had immersed about 300 idols in the pond and a huge amount of clay had gathered in the pond after the idols had dissolved. Two of our friends searched the pond from 10am to 12.30pm on Sunday and found the chain. Later, we contacted Umadevi and Ramaiah and returned the chain after taking photos of the handover. We also informed police and the MLA," said Lankesh.