The altar of the temple at Kazibagh in Patna from where the idols were stolen on Tuesday. Picture by Sachin

Patna, Dec. 20: Criminals in the state capital fear neither cops nor gods.

Thieves today looted idols from a temple in the Kazibagh area under Alamganj police station. The incident also put a poser on the police claim of preventing theft by introducing a foot patrol in various parts of the city.

Sources said the theft occurred in the small hours of this morning. The thieves decamped with more than 10 idols of gods and goddesses.

“The temple has two doors, both of which were broken. All the idols were stolen. One of them is made of ashtadathu. It is very expensive,” said a worker at the temple.

He estimated that the total price of all the idols could be nearly Rs 5 lakh.

“We found out about the theft around 6am and immediately informed the police,” added the worker.

Last week, the police had introduced patrol teams to prevent theft in the Patna City and Danapur areas. Two constables have been deployed for each kilometre to prevent criminal activities.

Senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar had said that each pair of constables would have a whistle, which they would use in case of an emergency.

The officer added that as many as 500 constables had been deployed.

This drive has been unable to prevent thefts though.

On December 16, criminals struck and looted at least four shops and a number of people in areas under the jurisdiction of Kadamkuan and Gandhi Maidan police stations.

The next night, thieves looted shops located in the Ashiana and Gurhatta areas under Shastri Nagar and Khajekala police stations. They decamped with valuables worth Rs 70,000 and cash.

The police, however, claimed that they had already achieved a breakthrough in the December 16 incident and other cases were also being investigated.

“We are investigating the theft cases. A breakthrough is expected any time. The foot patrolling has been introduced as well. It will bear results very soon. One has to give some time to it,” a senior police officer said.