Thief returns ornaments stolen from Odisha temple with apology note

Bhubaneswar: You may call it as divine intervention but the recovery of the stolen ornaments of Gopinath temple in Dhauli area near the capital city of Odisha has become a much-talked about incident in the locality.

The ornaments of Lord Gopinath, which had been stolen by someone in 2014, were found inside the shrine today.

The thief left the ornaments at the same place from where he had stolen the valuables nine years ago, said a local. The thief also left Rs 100 as penalty and a sum of Rs 200 as donation to the shrine, he added.

“The money was found in a polythene bag near the ornaments,” said the priest.

Moreover, the thief has left an apology note inside the temple. “I had stolen the ornaments from the temple in 2014. In these nine years, I have faced a lot of problems. That is why I decided to surrender the ornaments before the Lord,” read the apology note.

The stealing of Lord Gopinath’s ornaments was a sensational incident in 2014. The police had launched an investigation but they could not recover the ornaments, sources said.