Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, May 28: Thieves entered historically famous Lord Anantheshwara Temple in Ballamanja in the taluk and took away cash from donation boxes and silver ornaments found inside the sanctum sanctorum. The theft is suspected to have occurred during the early hours on Monday May 27, and the total value of stolen items has been put at Rs 3.38 lac.

The theft came to light when the hereditary priest of the temple opened the doors of the temple for morning puja on Monday May 27. The temple has a permanent watchman, but he was on a visit to his native place on Sunday as his father had passed away. A youth, who was appointed as watchman on temporary basis, had retired to his room in the outer precincts of the temple after 11.30 pm on Sunday. The rain, thunder and lightning, and the fact the power had got snapped for a short period, would have helped the thieves, the policemen have guessed.

Empty donation boxes and the ladder used for the theft were found on a nearby hillock. The thieves had taken advantage of the bamboo ladder used by workers for decorating the temple during the recent annual car festival to get inside.  Hundreds of people gathered at the temple after getting to know about the theft. The annual Shashti festival and car festival are held on a grand scale at this temple, which had been targeted by thieves nearly 15 years ago. Out of two who tried to steal things from here two years back, one had been held.

This time, the thieves who got in by scaling the outer wall with the help of the ladder, initially tried to open the steel shutter of the sanctorum. They then broke open the door of the shrine of Lord Ganapathi nearby, before breaking open two more inner doors and taking away silver aureole, silver armour, silver ornaments, other items used for puja, and donation boxes.

Punjalakatte assistant sub-inspector of police, Giriyappa, and other personnel visited the spot. Bantwal deputy superintendent of police, Sadanand Varnekar, and circle inspector from Beltangady, Sudhakar Naik, visited the spot and guided the investigations. Sniffer dogs and finger print experts were also summoned. It was pointed out that in spite of repeated alerts from the police department, closed circuit television cameras were not fitted in this temple.