Thieves strike big at Saketri temple

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, February 19

Thieves targeted the historic Shiva temple at Saketri on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday and decamped with jewellery, ornaments and some other articles of worship worth over Rs 30 lakh.

The CCTV footage shows that there were six masked men, in the the age group of 22 to 35, who committed the crime. They entered the temple premises around 1.30 am and spent nearly an hour inside.

According to the police, there are seven temples in the premises. They targeted six temples, including the Shiv temple, the Ram temple and the Nav Durga temple, and took away jewellery and ornaments, including “chhattrs, kada and mukuts”, from the idols. The thieves entered the temples after breaking their locks, the police said.

Buddhi Valabh, a priest, raised the alarm at 4.45 am when he went to one of the temples to perform the morning rituals.

Later, the temple management committee was informed, which further called the police.

Temple management committee president Kasho Das Gupta said they were ascertaining the loss. He said they would now take steps to increase the safety of the temple premises. They had provided the CCTV footage to the police, who were examining it, he said.

The SHO of the Mansa Devi police station, Bhagwan Das, said they were scrutinising the CCTV footage and questioning the staff.

FIR registered 

On a complaint of Kesho Ram, president of the temple management committee, the Panchkula police have registered an FIR under Sections 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment) of the IPC against unknown persons at the Mansa Devi police station. 

32 CCTV cameras, 12 priests, 2 guards on temple premises 

The temple has 32 CCTV cameras installed inside its campus. When the theft took place, there were 12 priests and two security guards on the temple premises. 

Forensic team visits site 

A forensic team visited the site and collected samples from the spot. The police also questioned the staff posted at the temple.