Police begin probe into temple heist in Odisha capital

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 13:

The Commissionerate Police have started investigation into the burglary case in which a gang of unidentified miscreants looted cash from hundi and other valuables of Laxminarayan Mandir located in Phase-III of Dumduma area under Khandagiri police limits in the wee hours of Sunday.

The miscreants decamped with valuables worth lakhs of rupees, police sources said.

The priest of the themple–Ratnakar Rath– came to know about the incident this morning when he came to open the temple at around 5am. Shocked by the loot, the priest called up one of the members of the Laxminarayan temple management committee to inform about the incident who later lodged a complaint with the local police station here.

Preliminary investigation revealed that three locks on the doors of the temple were broken by the miscreants to enter into it. Following this, they decamped with cash from the hundi, four eyes and two chitta of the temple goddesses made up of gold.

This besides, the miscreants have also fled with a Khatuli (seat of the idol made up of brass), six brass idols and other valuables from the temple.

The management of the temple could not assess the valuation of the loss but said the hundi was not opened since last one week, so there were chances that they contained a good amount of cash offered by devotees.

Police staff of the Khandagiri police station, during investigation, spotted the hundi lying deserted at a distance of around 20 metres from the temple.

Though the hundis was locked, the thieves managed to take out the cash from it using wires, police sources said.