One-tonne Nandi idol stolen from Andhra Pradesh temple

KAKINADA: The idol of a Nandi was found stolen from the famous Bala Tripura Sundari Sametha Agastheswara Swamy temple in Ramachandrapuram mandal of East Godavari district in the wee hours of Thursday. Police suspect the involvement of persons associated with the temple or some miscreants from the village as the monolithic idol, carved out of a granite stone, weighs nearly one tonne. The temple is believed to be over 400 year old.

Devotees and priests were stunned to see the Nandi idol missing and huge hole in the place where it stood. What baffled the locals was that the theft of the idol from the temple, located in a residential area, was carried out without any noise. Police suspect that the thieves might have come to the temple on several occasions to conduct a recce. Ramachandrapuram inspector Siva Ganesh expressed the hope to track down the thieves with the help of CCTV footage. A case was registered.