Bhubaneswar: The commissionerate police on Tuesday busted a racket behind a series of temple thefts in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, arresting three youths and recovering a large cache of stolen ornaments belonging to the deities. The accused were identified as Bhima Bed (26), Nitish Singh (19) and Suresh Singh (18), from Sahadevkhunta area in Balasore district.“We seized three gold eyes, three gold “chitas”, three U‑shaped gold ornaments, 15 silver crowns, six silver chains, three pairs of silver padukas, two silver “mathamanis”, one silver anklet and Rs 19,100 cash from the accused. They are habitual offenders involved in thefts across several temples in the twin cities,” said commissioner of police S Dev Datta Singh.DCP (Cuttack) Rishikesh Khilari said the gang targetted at least 15 temples in the past week. “They struck seven temples at Badasamantarapur village on July 15, looted Thakurani temple at Belda the next day, and stole ornaments from Kanak Durga, Grama Debi and Dhumabati temples under Tangi police limits on July 18. Two temples under 42 Mouza police station were targetted on July 20,” Khilari said.Police nabbed the trio while probing the theft at Sri Ramachandra temple under Choudwar police limits in Cuttack on Sunday night. Acting on intelligence inputs, a team raided Mundmal Chhak in Cuttack where the accused were attempting to sell stolen silver crowns.“We arrested all three and recovered stolen articles from them. During interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in multiple temple thefts,” Khilari added.
