Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (MS)

Kundapur, Jul 2: Thieves have started stealing from temples once again in the taluk. There was a slight respite in the temple burgling of late. However, the thieves broke into renowned Mahadevi Kalikamba temple of Katkere near Koteshwara in the taluk on the night of July 1. They took things worth thousands of rupees and caused damage to the tune of lacs of rupees.

The thieves, who gained access to the inside of the temple by breaking the main entrance door, stole the silver sword and axe that was in the hand of the idol of the goddess inside the temple. They also tried to remove the silver plating that is fixed on the door. They have taken CCTV and hard disk along with them.

The value of the stolen silver items is said to be Rs 25,000. Things worth more than Rs 1.5 lac were damaged by the thieves. The scale of the theft could have been much more if not for the presence of mind of the members of Sign In security safe Kundapur.

Six years ago, cash and gold worth more than Rs 50 lac were stolen from the same temple.

The temple has CCTV installed inside the premises. This was monitored live by the personnel of Safe Kundapura Project Sign In Security Live personnel. The personnel of the company observed that the CCTV of the temple is cut at around 1.27 am. They reported the matter to the police immediately.

The police on beat rushed to the temple immediately. However, three thieves made good their escape from the temple. The thieves also destroyed the CCTV wires before entering the temple. The temple has silver items worth Rs 26 lac and other items worth Rs 5 lac. However, due to the presence of mind of the security monitoring the temple CCTV, these items were saved from being stolen.

Kundapur ASP Hariram Shankar, circle inspector Gopikrishna, PSI Harish R and personnel visited the temple and are investigating further.