Thieves kill 2 farmers, steal temple donation box

Chandrapur: Two elderly farmers, who stayed in Jagannath Baba temple situated in a farm near Mangli village in Bhadravati tehsil, were murdered in their sleep by thieves while stealing the donation box sometime on Wednesday night.
The victims Madhukar Khuje (65) and Baburao Kharkar (80), both residents of Mangli, used to sleep in the temple after keeping night vigil over crops in their farms nearby. It was their routine as rabi crops were standing in their farms.
According to sources, unidentified robbers raided the temple sometime during the night and assaulted the sleeping farmers with crowbars and fled with the donation box. Both Khuje and Kharkar died on the spot.
In the morning, other farmers who were going to their farms noticed both the elderly persons lying dead in a pool of blood and raised alarm.
A team of Bhadravati police and also SP Ravindrasing Pardeshi reached the spot. Sniffer dog too was summoned.
The police suspect involvement of at least three persons in the crime. They, however, refused to divulge any further information.
It is learnt that there was only Rs500 in the donation box, as it was emptied only a week ago by the temple management.