TEMPLE BURGLED: VALUABLES WORTH 18 LAKHS STOLEN

MARGAO: In a telling reminder that the men in khaki have not been able to crack down on robbers striking at religious places and these perpetrators are in fact are spreading their tentacles in South Goa, valuables worth more than 18 lakhs were stolen from Shri Chandreshwer-Bhutnath temple on Tuesday night.

It was on the Wednesday morning when the priest of the temple Upadhay Gurav with his associate came to the temple situated on the peak of Mount Chandreshwer at Paroda– Quepem, to their consternation they found the main wooden door of the temple wide open. And on entering they found the silver lining of the alter of Lord Chandreshwer ripped out. Soon the president of the temple, Mr Vankatesh Dessai was informed who in turn informed the Quepem police station.

After confirming the news, the Quepem police station informed their higher ups and a team of dog squad and fingerprint experts was rushed to the temple.

The sniffer dogs could not achieve much as their scent petered out but some evidence was collected by the finger print experts.

Looking at the facts, the robbers seemed to be very familiar with the surroundings and the interior layout of the temple, informed temple insiders. The thieves made their way to the rooftop by climbing either the Banyan tree or from the side of the Bhutnath temple, removed the roof tiles and entered on the false ceiling and from there landed at the left side of the main alter. It was also found that the rear door of the temple was left open.

One of the devotees said that the robbers seemed to be expert as one wrong step and they could have fallen from the beams.

The robbers carried out their task knowing that there was no one at the temple at night till the next morning and there were no arrangements made by the temple committee like deputing any security guard or security measures like CCTV or security alarms even though a few years back some miscreants had vandalized idols from the temple at the very base of the mountain.

The robbers ripped all the silver lining on the main alter of Lord Chandreshwer and some of the silver lining of the palanquin and removed one of the silver head from one of the arms of the palanquin also 2 silver masks of Lord Chandreshwer of which one was plated with thick gold and from the Lord Bhutnath temple one silver mask of Lord Bhutnath, which also was plated with thick gold and several other silver articles.

2 cash boxes were broken and the cash was stolen, one of the collection boxes was wooden, the other was of metal. 2 cupboards and the safe boxes were also forced open not even sparing the office table at the entrance hall of which the drawers were forced open looking for valuables and cash.

South Goa superintendent of police, Mr Allan D’Sa, sub-divisional police officer from Quepem, Mr Rohidas Patre, Margao sub- divisional police officer, Mr Mahesh Gaunker besides DySP, traffic, Mr Gajanan Prabhudessai and police inspector, Mr Ekosker of Quepem police station visited the temple.

Mr Patre said that the absence of any form of security at the temple helped the robbers in their activity and felt that the robbers could be the same ones who had robbed the temples at Ponda and Mapusa recently.

Police sources say that in the previous two cases there was no evidence left by the robbers but this time the department was lucky to find 3 fingerprints and half foot print.

Mr Patre informed that they had contacted the authorities at Karnataka that very soon the police would publish the photos of some suspects