E-Paper
Thieves take away gold, silver jewellery from Sector 8 temple in Chandigarh
The theft at the Shri Sanatan Dharam Pracheen Shiv Mandir came to light when the pujari opened the temple for puja around 5.30am on Thursday
Two masked men broke into a temple in Sector 8 here and decamped with gold and silver jewellery and cash during wee hours on Thursday. While the value of the jewellery is yet to be ascertained, Rs 7,000 were stolen from the donation box.
The theft at the Shri Sanatan Dharam Pracheen Shiv Mandir came to light when the pujari opened the temple for puja around 5.30am.
Temples in the city are closed due to lockdown these days and are supposed to reopen on June 8 for public, as per the orders of the UT administration.
General secretary of the temple Ashwani Gupta, in his complaint, told the police that when the temple was opened on Thursday morning, gold and silver jewellery of idols was found missing and the money box was also found broken.
He said the thieves had taken away two gold nose rings (naths), a gold ‘tikka’, a silver flute, four silver thrones and three silver crowns of deities, three idols, two silver globular water containers (lota) and one silver plate.
A case in this regard has been registered at the Sector 3 police station.
THEFT CAUGHT ON CCTV CAMERAS
Thieves, with their faces covered with masks and monkey caps and wearing gloves, were seen entering the temple between 3am and 4am in the three CCTV cameras installed in the temple.
As per the footage, the accused came from the back lane and climbed down the stairs from the roof. They broke a grill with a rod to gain entry to the temple.
“The thieves disconnected one CCTV, turned the direction of the other and covered the third camera with a paper to avoid being caught. It appeared to be a well-panned theft,” said Gupta.
“A pujari, usually sleeps in the temple premises. But, on Wednesday, there was no one in the temple. There was a watchman at the front gate of the temple and a sewadar was sleeping in the nearby dharamshala in the temple premises,” said Gupta.
Police said they had collected fingerprints from the spot and were analysing them against criminals with similar modus operandi. They have also taken the mobile tower dump data in the area.
THEFTS AT RELIGIOUS PLACES IN TRICITY
March 17: Burglars struck at the shrine of Maa Shakumbhri Devi in Sector 43, Chandigarh, and took away huge silver ornaments worth Rs 3.3 lakh
December 11: Thieves decamped with gold and silver ornaments from a temple in Sector 8, Panchkula
September 27: Two masked men stole 3kg silver from Hari Mandir in Phase 5, Mohali
September 9: Around Rs 1 lakh, besides multiple silver items, were stolen from Shiv Temple in Sector 39, Chandigarh
August 31: Burglars decamped with Rs 50,000 from the donation box of Christ the King Cathedral in Sector 19, Chandigarh
August 3: Rs 30,000 were stolen from the cash box kept inside a gurdwara at Sector 11, Chandigarh
July 28: Thieves fled with Rs 5,000 from Sanatan Dharam Panch Mukhi Hanuman Mandir in Sector 19, Chandigarh
July 25: Burglars struck twice in Chandigarh, stealing Rs 35,000 and silver items from Shri Krishna Temple in Sector 33 and Pracheen Shiv Sati Temple in Sector 43.
