Unidentified persons broke into the Shirdi Saibaba temple in HUDA Colony Phase-2, Chandanagar, on the intervening night of July 24 and 25 and made away with cash and gold ornaments.
According to a complaint lodged by a temple committee member K. Sreenivasa Rao, the incident came to light at around 4 a.m. on Friday when the temple watchman, Nageshwar Rao, noticed that the north-east grill door lock had been broken. Upon inspection, it was found that two collection boxes (traditionally called hundies), one near an idol and another in a drawer of the manager’s table, had been forcibly opened. The locker attached to the table was also damaged.
The culprits allegedly stole around ₹13,000 from the locker and an additional ₹5,000 from the collection boxes. Police said that a separate room within the premises, allotted to another watchman, Sreenu, was also broken into. Sreenu, who had gone to his native village on July 23, reportedly lost a pair of gold earrings (8 grams), a gold chain (12 grams), and some cash in the theft.
A case has been registered by the Chandanagar police and an investigation is underway.
