The Santa Sahi Durga idol bereft of ornaments after theft. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 2: Thieves today decamped with silver and gold ornaments worth nearly Rs 2 lakh from three small temples in the city.

Local people said the criminals looted the ornaments from Santa Sahi puja mandap and two other small temples at Sikharpur early morning.

“We came to know about the theft in the morning. They have taken away silver ornaments, including a necklace weighing 300 grams, and the goddess’ gold eyes weighing around 20 grams,” said Santa Sahi mandap priest Binod Panda. A local resident said the mandap was located on the main road near Brundaban Talkies. There is usually a rush till late night and, therefore, the road remains busy as it connects Bajrakabati with Ranihat, railway station and Badambadi.

The criminals had entered the mandap by breaking two locks at the main entrance. Besides the Santa Sahi puja mandap, the thieves also targeted two other temples and decamped with silver ornaments, weighing nearly 400 grams, from Sunadei temple and 300 grams of silver ornaments from Yogamaya temple.

“Small temples have become the criminals’ soft targets. There have been similar thefts in other parts of the city. Lack of patrolling and negligence on part of the temple officials are to be blamed for such incidents,” said Bajrakabati resident Sudam Swain.

“We have registered cases and started investigations in this connection,” said Cuttack deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar.

In 2012, gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 15 lakh were looted from at least seven small shrines in the city and the police were not able to make any break-through.

On December 24 last year, thieves had looted ornaments worth Rs 4 lakh from Kocheli temple at Kathagada Sahi.

The criminals had decamped with gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 7 lakh from three temples, including one each at Buxi Bazar, Nuabazar and Mangalabag, on September 23 last.