Thieves decamp with 40-kg silver from temple

Thieves are on the prowl in Ludhiana as they struck at Prachin Sheetla Mata Mandir located in BRS Nagar here and decamped with silver ornaments weighing around 40 kg, including a gold nose ring, adorned on idols. While committing theft, thieves desecrated the idols.

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After the incident, the temple committee fumed over the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the suspects. The committee members had gathered at the temple and held a meeting in this regard. People who reached the temple after getting information about the incident raised concern over the poor law and order situation in the city.

The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when the priest opened the temple. He was shocked to see the ransacked temple.

Ashok Sachhar of the temple committee said the watchman also remains present in the area, still the thieves managed to commit the theft in the temple. “The miscreants decamped with jewellery weighing about 40 kg, the value of which is in several lakhs.”

The priest, Darshan Parsad Shastri, said as per CCTV footage, two suspects entered the temple around 1.30 am and left after 90 minutes.

ACP (West) Gurdev Singh said the police launched an investigation and the case would be cracked soon.

Second major temple theft in dist

Notably, the incident is the second major temple theft in the district, which is a challenge for the Ludhiana police. The past incident occurred on the intervening night of August 14 and 15 in the past year at the Shiv temple in Khanna. Thieves had first removed silver ornaments from the lingam and uprooted it. They were captured in CCTV cameras while damaging the lingam by hitting it with an iron rod and hammer repeatedly. Later, they broke the lock and stole the crown of Lord Hanuman’s idol. They also stole gold and silver ornaments of other idols and fled the scene. The value of the stolen ornaments was said to be around Rs 20 lakh. The Khanna police, led by SSP Ashwini Gotyal, had solved the case within seven days.