A woman who went to Calcutta’s Iskcon temple near Minto Park on the evening of Rash Purnima last month lost her Gopal idols there.

The CCTV footage obtained from the temple showed two women lifting the idols that were kept in a pink basket, placed on the pranami box in front of the idol of Lord Jagannath, said complainant Mita Paul.

Paul, who is a resident of Sreebhumi and works in a private firm on Camac Street,
is a regular visitor to the temple.

“I went with my family to the Iskcon temple on the day on November 5. There was a lot of rush that day. I thought since it was an auspicious day, I should also take my two Gopal jis to the temple. I took them to the temple in a pink basket,” said Paul.

Around 8pm, the lights of the temple were switched off during the deeya daan ritual.

“I had kept the basket barely a few metres away from me when suddenly there was a lot of pushing in the room. I realised sometime later that someone had picked up the basket,” Paul told Metro on Sunday.

The pink basket contained two bronze idols.

“The bigger of the two is five inches long and the smaller one is around two inches long. Both had gold chains on them. The bigger one was a gift from my parents, who brought it from Vrindavan,” she added.

Paul initially lodged a complaint with Shakespeare Sarani police station in November and recently alerted the detective department of Kolkata Police at Lalbazar.

Radha Raman Das, vice-president, Iskcon, said this is not the first time that a theft has been reported at the temple.

“Even on the day of Rath Yatra, a laptop was stolen from the temple. Later, we checked the CCTV and found that a man with his face covered with a mask came like any other devotee and slipped into a room where a laptop was kept. He sneaked out with the bag without raising any suspicion,” Das said.

He added that the temple being a public place, was vulnerable to such thefts and hence all visitors are requested to keep their belongings at their own risk.

“As a security measure, we have brought every corner of the temple premises under CCTV coverage,” Das said.

Sources said, once an alleged thief is caught or the photograph of a suspect is obtained, the temple officials circulate the photograph and display it on their notice boards to alert devotees.

Kolkata Police officers said a formal case has been drawn by Shakespeare Sarani police station, and a probe has been started.