: Thieves allegedly broke open a donation box at the Baba Kalyangiri Temple in Thakurganj in the early hours of Monday and fled with cash and a trident. According to police, the incident took place after the 5am aarti, when the priests had gone to sleep in their rooms. The thieves allegedly locked the priests inside their rooms from outside before entering the temple premises. One of the accused reportedly used a matchstick to check whether there was cash inside the donation box before breaking it open.
A nearly 20-minute-long CCTV footage of the incident has surfaced online, showing a young man entering the temple and approaching the donation box. In the footage, he is seen lighting a matchstick to peer through the small opening of the box, apparently checking whether it contained money.
After appearing to satisfy himself that there was cash inside, the man is seen breaking open the donation box and taking away the money. The footage also shows him removing a trident from the temple premises.
The thieves allegedly also carried away another donation box that they could not open.
“The matter has come to the notice of the Thakurganj police; an investigation is underway, and necessary action is being taken,” said SHO Omveer Singh Chauhan. HTC