Puri, Dec. 12: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration today suspended one of its employees after he was caught stealing money while the day's donations were being counted inside the 12th century shrine here.

The accused has been identified as Uma Rath, 50, a Class IV employee.

Temple public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda said: "According to the practice, the temple administration collects the donation money from the hundi and later deposits it in the bank after counting. When the counting was going on, Rath stole some cash and hid it in his pocket. The other employees, who were present at the time of counting, noticed it and caught him red-handed."

Later, the theft was confirmed by the CCTV footage. The administration recovered Rs 4,000 in all from him.

It consisted of two Rs 2,000 notes. "After the incident came to light, we informed the chief administrator, and he put him under suspension with immediate effect," said the temple's public relations officer.