Bhubaneswar, Oct. 16: Goons struck at two temples and stole gold and silver ornaments worth over Rs 3 lakh here last night.

The Hanuman temple at Kochilei Haat in Rasulgarh and Dulladevi temple at Uttara Square on the National Highway 203 were targeted by the burglars.

Saheed Nagar police, who rushed to the Hanuman temple after the loot, said the same group of thieves had also stolen valuable articles from the house of a girl, who was living alone at Rasulgarh.

The priest of the Hanuman temple, Manoj Kumar Pandey, said the thieves had broken the locks and entered the temple.

They had stolen the silver crown and other ornaments of the main deity of the temple, along with the ornaments of other deities.

“When I came to the temple this morning, I found the locks broken and the ornaments missing. Luckily, there were no gold ornaments inside the temple. The cost of the stolen properties would be more than Rs 2 lakh,” said Pandey, who had been working there as a priest for the past 12 years.

The police claimed that the same gang had stolen a mobile phone, wristwatches and other valuables worth around Rs 20,000 from the rented house of a private company employee, Binita Rout, in the same locality.

In the second case of temple theft, gold and silver ornaments from the Dulladevi temple were also found missing this morning.

The temple trust board’s secretary Pramod Bhoi found the locks broken this morning.

The police suspect the involvement of drug addicts, who have been targeting these unguarded temples.

In August, thieves had burgled the Nilakantheswar temple at Baramunda and fled with ornaments and cash worth around Rs 3.5 lakh.

Several such temple burglaries had been reported at Kharvela Nagar last year, raising concern about security of small temples in the city.