He may or may not be a devotee, but god literally came to the rescue of a shop owner, who sells Indian food in Melbourne, when he was being robbed by an armed robber.

Melbourne-based fast food owner of The Curry Grove thwarted an attempted armed robbery by throwing a Ganesh idol at his attacker, when he was threatened with a knife and asked for cash, police said.

"The offender has then made a demand for cash but the owner, a man in his mid-40s and the only person in the shop at the time, threw a statue at him," police said, adding the alleged robber promptly fled the premises following the resistance.

According to The Age, police could not confirm whether the statue depicted a Hindu deity, but believed to be the elephant-headed idol Ganesh.

Police believe that the man, supposedly in his 30s, fled empty handed on a motorbike parked outside, the paper reported.