Thieves hit 2 Ponda temples, bungalow, steal gold & cash

Ponda: In a series of thefts, some unidentified thieves targeted two temples and a bungalow of a former sarpanch on Wednesday night within the jurisdiction of Ponda police. Police have intensified the investigation with available fingerprints and CCTV footage.

Thieves entered the Shree Bhavani Siddhapurush temple at Par-Usgaon and made away with ancient gold ornaments of the goddess kept in a safe locker inside the garbh griha (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple. As the ornaments were ancient, their weight and monetary value were not known. However, the temple committee members said it could be worth over Rs 10 lakh. The thieves also broke open the donation box and stole the cash inside.


The thieves entered the temple by cutting window grills. The CCTV camera captured a thief from backside, entering the temple with a helmet on his head.

In another incident, the thieves also targeted Shree Satyanarayan temple at Dhavali and stole around Rs 10,000 cash from the donation box. The thieves entered the temple by breaking the door lock from the back, but they could not break the door of the sanctum sanctorum.

In the third incident, some unidentified thieves entered the bungalow of Luis Costs, former sarpanch of Borim panchayat, by breaking the lock of the main door.

As no one was present in the bungalow, they stole gold ornaments worth around Rs 1.3 lakh including gold chains and gold earrings and cash Rs 20,000 from the cupboard.

Costa and his wife work abroad and his mother and son stay at the bungalow. However, at night, they go to their ancestral house.

Besides the gold and cash, they have allegedly stolen 20 bottles of foreign liquor worth around Rs 60,000 from the bungalow.

All the thefts came to light in the morning.

Ponda police rushed to the crime scenes when they were informed about the thefts. Services of the sniffer dog squad and fingerprint experts were also deployed to collect evidence. Police are investigating whether the three thefts were committed by the same team of thieves or by different thieves. Three different cases of thefts have been registered at the Ponda police station.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Valentine's day wishes, messages and gift idea !