Burglars strike at temple in Jagtial, decamp with 15kg silver

HYDERABAD: The prominent Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy temple in Jagtial was burgled late on Thursday night and thieves decamped with 15 kg of silver articles worth about Rs 9 lakh. The thieves finished their work in about 15 minutes even as over 100 devotees slept outside the main temple complex and despite the presence of guards.
Also, the rear grill gate was found to have been left unlocked, allowing easy entry to the thieves. The burglary comes close on the heels of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently announcing a Rs 1,000 crore plan to revamp the temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.
The theft came to light on Friday morning only after the temple staff arrived. This is the first burglary in the temple which opens everyday at 4 am and closes at 8 pm, officials said.
CCTV footage showed three men were involved in the daring late-night burglary. The accused wore T-shirts, hooded jackets, face masks and also had saffron shawls to pass themselves off as devotees.
"At 1.20 am, the three men entered through the rear gate and then broke the lock of the sanctum sanctorum. They stole 12 silver articles including 'one makaratoranam', 'four sathagopuram', 'one ramaraksha', one umbrella and two crowns. They did not touch the main idol but only picked articles from the santum sanctorum and the area around it. They left in about 15 minutes," Jagtial DSP R Prakash said.
The temple security under an ASI and four home guards. A Clues team collected fingerprints from the spot and the sniffer dog went till the Seetamma well below the temple hillock from where the trail went cold.
Police released the images of the three suspects and SP A Bhaskar has formed 10 special teams to track the accused. "Devotees were not allowed into the temple till all evidence was gathered. They were allowed to enter in the evening after 'samprokshana' ritual was performed," the DSP said. A burglary case has been registered under IPC sections 457 and 380.