Cuttack, Oct. 21: Criminals fled with 40kg silver worth nearly Rs 19 lakh from a Puja committee pandal here, taking advantage of lax security in the early hours of this morning.

The incident occurred at the Alisha Bazar Puja Committee pandal within Lalbag police limits. This is the first major incident in which goons have targeted a Puja committee and looted silver used to decorate the idol's backdrop, locally known as chandi medha.

The Puja committee idol had a backdrop made of nearly 350kg of silver worth over Rs 2 crore.

The matter came to light after a mandap priest arrived at the spot around 6:30am. There are at least six small temples inside the Alisha Bazaar mandap complex that is spread across 3,000sqft.

"My brother Purna Chandra Panda, who is also a priest at the temple, first found a lock to one of the mandap's gates broken. He later informed everybody about the incident," said the mandap's main priest, Niranjan Panda.

He said the criminals must have entered the complex after breaking at least three locks. There are several small shrines located inside the complex and Panda himself locks the main gate between 10:30 and 11 every night.

The police said the robbers had come prepared for a long haul with the intention of looting as much silver from the medha as possible. The cops recovered two packets of biscuits, water bottles, two new steel glasses from the spot.

The police said they would send all these items for forensic examination.

Puja mandap officials suspect the involvement of local youths or criminal gangs as they were aware of the exact location of the three CCTV cameras installed on the mandap premises. Puja committee president Rabiranjan Sahu told The Telegraph that the goons first snapped the wire of the CCTV before robbing the mandap.

The silver filigree backdrop is used to decorate the idols during Durga Puja. After the festivities end, the organisers usually remove the silver from the wooden structures and the idols' ornaments and keep them in a strong room on their respective premises before taking them out ahead of the next Pujas.

But, the Alisha Bazar committee removed the backdrop and ornaments to use them for Kali Puja.

"We will observe Kali Puja in our mandap at the end of this month and that's why kept the silver from the backdrop inside the mandap, along with the deity's other silver and gold ornaments," said Sahu.

He said the Puja committee officials had kept nearly 50 grams of gold ornaments inside a trunk.

Though the criminals had also opened the trunk, they could not find the ornaments as it was kept at the bottom, along with other articles used to perform ceremonial rituals.

Forensic experts as well as the police's dog squad conducted a detailed investigation of the mandap, and clues, including the finger prints, have been found on the gates and a wooden cupboard, which would be examined.

"The criminals had entered the mandap by breaking the locks. We have registered a case and further investigation is on," said Lalbag police station inspector-in-charge Debadutta Baral.

Baral said the contents of the CCTV would also be reviewed to find more clues about the goons involved in the incident.