Idol, valuables worth Rs 78,000 stolen from temple

After a lull, the incidents of temple theft once again returned to haunt city cops. A theft that took place at Sant Ramdeobaba temple at Gittikhadan Tekdi on Thursday morning, has left cops clueless.

The police said they are not ruling out involvement of a tipper who was well acquainted with the activities at the temple.

The theft was spotted by temple priest Rajendra Sharma when he went for the morning 'aarti'. The cops were informed immediately. There had been few major thefts at temples in the recent past.

Police are surprised by the fact that the theft took place despite the presence of three private security guards deployed at the temple during night hours. The miscreants made a gape in the window grill. Police now feel that given the size of the hole, either a man with a thin physique or a minor is likely to be involved in the theft.

The miscreant broke into the temple and decamped with valuables worth Rs 78,000, which included a silver statute of the temple deity, silver-made 'Laddu Gopal' idol and other materials. A silver idol accessory was later recovered in damaged condition behind the temple.

Gittikhadan police said that temple management was lucky to have escaped a bigger predicament. The temple authorities were supposed to deck up the idol of the main deity with jewellery for an annual occasion on Wednesday. The plan was aborted in the last minute.

Police said that someone, well-versed with the annual calendar of the temple activities, is likely to have passed on crucial information to the miscreants in advance, enabling him to strike at the right moment.

Intriguingly, the closed-circuit television cameras in the temple too had been disconnected for last few days due to renovation work at the temple.

The miscreant seemed to have climbed more than 10 to 12 feet from outside to make a roundish cut in the window grill to make the entry.

Police said it is likely that the thief may have used a cable to scale up the wall to get access to the window. Senior inspector NR Dambelkar of Gittikhadan police station said that it is not clear before the cops yet as to how the thief may have landed inside the temple and returned.

"There was a chair kept below the broken window close to the wall. We are not very convinced by the presence of the chair that it was actually used by the thieves while climbing back on the wall to sneak out through the wall. May be there is more than what meets the eye," said Dambelkar.

Police also said that one of the former priests and the temple management have long-standing dispute over possession of a property. Cops are also trying to ascertain whether the dispute had anything to do with the theft.

The priest too resides in front of the temple. The premises are also often used by the cops from the Gittikhadan police station to rest when not in action.

Ajit Singh, president of the temple committee, said the management would be henceforth more careful. "There had been no theft at the temple in the past. We took action against one of the priests after he was found indulged in mishandling of donations," said Singh.