TV
Unidentified miscreants broke into the Chingudikhola Kali Temple in the Beguniapada block of Ganjam district and looted its donation box on Monday.
Sources stated that the thieves reportedly smashed open the donation box and fled with the collected offerings. Subsequently, the temple priest informed the management committee about the theft, which then lodged a police complaint.
Till the last reports, a police investigation into the incident was on but no comments could be obtained on the progress made.
The incident marked yet another temple loot in the state, which has recently witnessed an alarming wave of such cases.
On November 26, four temples in the Gardapara area under ward number 28 of Bhadrak district were looted on the same night, sending shockwaves all over. As per reports, gold and silver jewelry, cash, and other valuable items worth Rs 5 lakh were stolen in the serial loot.
The morning after the attack, locals found that the Mangala, Shiva, Radha-Krishna, and Hanuman temples were targeted by the thieves. They also alleged that the lack of police patrolling in the area was to be blamed.
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Similarly, unidentified thieves stole ornaments and cash from the donation box of Maa Santoshi temple in Junani village, Nuapada district, on the night of 13 November. As per preliminary investigations, the miscreants reportedly used a bamboo ladder, broke the lock, looted valuables, and fled, leaving the ladder and broken donation box behind.
In another shocker, about a week before the above incident, on November 7, the Tara Tarini temple complex at Purushottampur in Ganjam was targeted by thieves who looted ornaments worth lakhs of rupees.
ALSO READ: Temple looters on prowl in Balasore; ornaments from two more temples stolen
As such, these back-to-back instances of temple loot in the span of a month have sparked grave concerns regarding the law-and-order situation in Odisha.
