Daijiworld News Network - Beltangady (GA)

Beltangady, Apr 25: In a rare incident, the temple priest of Shri Mahalingeshwar Temple of Venoor has been accused of stealing the alms box of the temple on Monday April 24.

Annual festivities of the Shri Mahalingeshwar Temple of Venoor were going on in the last week.  The festivities came to an end on Friday April 21.  A lot of devotees had come for the festivities.  The temple priest Suryanarayan alias Suryabhatta had also seen that the devotees had offered lot of alms in the form of money. 

The temple priest and other persons involved with the temple activities were busy up to Sunday April 23 night in putting back things in order.  Suryanarayan was in the temple even in the late hours on Sunday night.

But when the temple was opened on Monday morning, the alms boxes were missing.  When the cooks were enquired, they said that the temple priest was in the temple on previous night.  So the temple priest was enquired about the theft.  Though he denied about it in the beginning, finally he agreed that he had stolen the all the alms box. 

As for the information given by him, alms boxes were recovered from the in house and bathroom.  It is suspected that he has stolen more than Rs 50,000 in total.

A complaint has now been filed against him in the Venoor police station in this regard.