No headway yet in Tirupati temple crown theft case investigation

TIRUPATI: It has been more than a fortnight since the three antique gold crowns were stolen from Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple. But investigators have failed to make any headway in the gold crown theft case.

The gold crowns of the processional deities of Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy temple, one of the sub-temples on Govindaraja Swamy temple premises, were found missing on February 2.  The gold crowns weighing around 1,351 grams, are worth `50 lakh.

“We have not been able to achieve any major breakthrough in the caseeven after analysing the CCTV camera footage and questioning some suspects,” a police official admitted.

The Tirupati police initially picked up two persons -- a devotee from Tamil Nadu, and a local auto driver -- suspecting their involvement in the theft of gold crowns. But the duo were later let off as their involvement was not proved, another police official said.

Later, the police released the photo of a suspect whose movement was found to be suspicious in the surveillance cameras and sought information from general public about his whereabouts.

Two police teams went to Jharkhand as part of the case investigation on suspicion that the accused might belong to that State, sources said.

Turf war?

It is learnt that a turf war is going on between two groups of priests in the TTD, which might be one of the reasons that led to missing of gold crowns. The rift between the two groups is said to have widened further with the recent transfer of some TTD temple priests.