Thieves steal ancient idols from Ram Janki temple in Saran

Patna: The thieves broke into the Ram Janki temple in Saran district late on Sunday night and stole several idols worth lakhs of rupees. The stolen idols included those of Lord Rama, Goddess Sita, and Lord Lakshmana, which were made of precious Ashtadhatu and were believed to be hundreds of years old.

The thieves entered the temple by cutting the lock on the back door and then broke the lock on the main door of the sanctum sanctorum. They took away the idols and also removed the CCTV cameras, along with the DVR. The incident occurred in Mashrakh police station area, cops said.


Considering the sensitivity of the incident, rural SP Sanjay Kumar reached the spot and conducted an investigation.

He said, “The theft came to light on Monday morning when the temple priests arrived for daily worship. They found a cutter used by the thieves and clothes removed from the idols thrown around near the temple, which clearly showed that the thieves carried out this act with complete ease.”

The thieves, who executed the crime, were also technically clever. To hide their identity and avoid giving clues to the police, they uprooted the CCTV cameras installed in the temple. Not only this, they also made off with the entire CCTV setup and the recording hard disk (DVR). “Police are scanning CCTV camera footage from other areas and nearby roads to find clues about the criminals. The local informers were activated to get some clues about the thieves. Further investigation is going on,” the rural SP added.