Odisha police begin probe into Alarnath temple heist

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Puri, Jul 12:

Police on Saturday began investigation into the alleged heist in the Alarnath Temple at Brahmagiri in Odisha’s Puri district.

Earlier, two separate cases were registered by servitors’ and the Tehsildar in the local police station.

The matter came to light on Friday morning when servitors noticed the ‘Hundi’ broken. The servitors had kept the ‘Hundi’ in the office on the pervious night before leaving the temple premises. However, the next day they found donations worth over lakh of rupees missing from the donation box.

Notably, the footfall of devotees’ increases at the Alarnath temple as Lord Jagannath manifests in Alarnath Dev during the fortnight as darshan of Lord Jagannath remains suspended at His Puri temple following his sickness since the day of the grand bathing on the occasion of Snan Purnima. During this period, Shree Jagannath and his two siblings Shree Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra remain under treatment of the temple Vaidya (doctor).

The incident a week ahead of the grand festival of Nabakalebara Rath Yatra has raised many questions on the security preparedness of the administration.