 |
| The Bandha Baseli temple at Chandni Chowk in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das |
Cuttack, Dec. 2: Criminals looted gold and silver ornaments worth about Rs 2.5 lakh from a temple at Chandni Chowk today.
Taking advantage of lack of police patrol, the unidentified criminals targeted Bandha Baseli temple, one of the oldest shrines on embankments of the Kathjodi.
Two silver crowns, a gold necklace and the donation box have been looted from the shrine.
It is the third incident of theft in small temples in the past fortnight here in the city.
“All the four locks of the temple were broken and the criminals have looted all the gold and silver ornaments of the presiding deity,” said priest Kartik Chandra Barik.
Barik said earlier at the nearly 800-year-old the Bandha Baseli temple devotees used to worship the goddess after taking a bath in the Kathjodi. Later, a small temple was built to protect Cuttack city, and subsequently, an embankment was constructed, which later became the busy ring road.
An official of the temple trust said that usually the temple received an annual donation of Rs 80,000. As the donation box is opened in April, it is still unclear about the exact amount of cash that has been looted.
“Due to the winter chill, roads usually remain deserted till 6am. Moreover, taking advantage of the lack of patrol, goons now have started to target small temples in the city,” said local resident Kishore Das. On November 24, criminals looted silver ornaments worth nearly Rs 1.5 lakh from a temple at Pithapur.
The police said that on November 25, criminals had decamped with silver ornaments worth Rs 2 lakh from another temple near Chandi Mandir.
“A special squad is carrying out investigation into the series of temple thefts, while it is suspected that a particular gang is involved in such incidents,” said a senior police official.
On September 14, the police arrested three persons involved in the loot of silver ornaments from two temples at Chauliaganj and Sikharpur.
On September 2, the goons looted two silver crowns, necklace and two gold eyes of the goddess from Yogamaya and Sunadei temples.