CUTTACK: Burglars broke into one of the oldest temples of the Millennium City, the Budhi Thakurani temple at Kaligali under Lalbag police limits on Wednesday night and decamped with gold ornaments worth over ` 1 lakh. The hundi (donation box) of the temple has also been taken away which is presumed to have contained more than Rs 1 lakh. The theft came to light early on Thursday when temple puja committee secretary Rajani Das discovered something wrong in the Deity’s altar during morning walk. When he visited the temple as a daily practice in the wee hours, he found the door of the sanctum sanctorum ajar and called for the priest expecting that he might have opened it. On finding no one, Das went to nearby Laxmi temple where the priest lives. “At the temple the priest found all the ornaments on the Goddess as well as the gold eyes, nose and lips missing. The locks on the door had been broken and the metal ‘hundi’, which, had been locked from three ends taken away,” Das said. There was over 50 gm worth of ornaments on the Goddess which were donated by devotees and decorated on the Goddess only around six months back, Das said. As news spread, tension prevailed with locals alleging police negligence. The area which is dotted with jewellery shops was under night watch by police but the security had been withdrawn for sometime now. Locals alleged that despite repeated requests the watch and patrolling had not been reinstated. A complaint has been lodged with Lalbag police.
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