Thieves broke into the Sri Shirdi Saibaba Temple at Thotadamane in Kodavoor village in Malpe police station limits and decamped with silver items whose value is estimated at Rs. 5.6 lakh, and Rs. 2 lakh in cash.
According to the Malpe police, thieves broke into the Sri Shirdi Saibaba Temple between 10 p.m. on March 10 and 5.30 p.m. on Friday, and made good with a silver ‘paduka’ of Rs. 2 lakh, a silver umbrella of Rs. 60,000, and two silver ‘peethas’ of Rs. 3 lakh.
They also took away about Rs. 2 lakh from the ‘hundi’ of the temple.
Dog squad
The thieves, while escaping, locked the front door of the temple with another lock. A dog squad and a team of fingerprint experts were pressed into service at the spot.
The police have been repeatedly telling the temple authorities to install CCTV cameras and sirens for the last couple of years but some of the temples have not been following the advisory.
In this case, the Malpe police had informed the authorities of the Sri Shirdi Saibaba Temple to install a CCTV camera just a couple of days ago, but that was not done, the police said.
A case had been registered at the Malpe police station and investigations are on, the police said.
K. Annamalai, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu that the police had found some clues and were examining the case thoroughly.
Though the temple itself did not have any CCTV cameras, the police were examining CCTV footage from cameras in the areas close to the temple, he said.
