Berhampur: Silver ornaments worth nearly Rs 10 lakh were looted from Tara Tarini temple, a famous Shakti shrine, in Odisha’s Ganjam district, police said Wednesday.
The jewellery looted from the hilltop temple in Purusottampur includes the crowns of the deities, ceremonial umbrellas and masks of the deities. Though the miscreants attempted to loot the main ‘hundi’ (donation box), they could not succeed, a police officer said.
They, however, looted money by breaking open two other hundis. The exact amount of the money looted is yet to be ascertained, the officer said.
The miscreants entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, located around 780 feet above sea level, by breaking at least three locks, including that on the main entrance.
A watchman, deployed by the temple management committee, was allegedly sleeping when the incident took place.
The incident came to light early on Wednesday when two priests first noticed that some locks were broken and some ornaments were missing. They informed some senior servitors and the police, said Bapuji Rana, one of the servitors.
He said the Tara Tarini Sevayat Sangh has lodged an FIR with Purushottampur police station over the incident.
Ganjam Superintendent of Police Suvendu Kumar Patra visited the spot.
“We have pressed into service a scientific team and dog squad for investigation. A manhunt has been launched to nab the accused,” he said.
The over 500-year-old temple was renovated in 2022 at a cost of around Rs 117 crore. However, no CCTV camera was installed on the premises.
A member of the police investigation team admitted they would face difficulty in identifying the miscreants due to the lack of CCTV surveillance.
In 1994, unidentified persons had looted from the temple idols of the deities made of ‘ashtadhatu’ (eight metals).
A fact-finding team of the BJD led by former Berhampur MP Chandra Sekhar Sahu visited the temple under the direction of party president Naveen Patnaik.
Other members of the team included former MLAs Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik, Bikram Panda and Suryamani Baidya.
“We will submit a report to the party president soon,” Sahu said.
PTI
