Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (GA)

Mangalore, Jun 6: A thief who came in guise of a devotee decamped with oranaments worth Rs 1 lac from the idol of goddess Lakshmi in the Shri Venkatramana Temple at Car Street here on Tuesday June 6 morning.

The thief has stolen a 3 sovereign gold chain donated by Venkatesh Bhat of Kota, a 5 sovereign chain given by C V Kamat and family and one more gold chain of 3 sovereigns.  The total value of the stolen ornaments is said to be Rs 1 lac.  The theft took place while the temple priest was offering puja in the adjacent Ganapati temple.

The person in question, that is, the devotee who has been accused of theft, was coming to the temple in the last one month to offer prayers in the mornings. Even on Tuesday morning he had come to the temple as usual.  Since he was coming to the temple regularly, the temple priest did not bother to watch his movements closely. 

The theft came to light a little while later when one of the priests saw ornaments missing from the goddess Lakshmi's idol.  However, the unidentified devotee had fled the place by the time.  At the same time even the temple priest Vedamurthy Rukmanand Bhat delayed in lodging complaint with the administrator of the temple.  The former went home after the puja before having his breakfast.  It was only after the breakfast that he informed about the theft to the temple administrator.

This delay gave enough time to the thief to fled the place.  A complaint has been lodged with the police in this regard.