'Devotional' thief strikes at temple in T'gana

A 'devotional' thief decamped with the silver crown of a deity at a temple here after offering prayers with folded hands with a video of his act caught on CCTV camera going viral, police said on Thursday. The incident occurred at the Goddess Durga temple in Abids on Wednesday evening when there was none in the temple, they said adding a case had been registered and investigations were on.

In the CCTV footage, the man is seen offering prayers by folding hands and ears and bowing before the idol. Then he suddenly removes the crown from the idol and again folded his hands before the goddess, apparently apologizing and then decamping with the valuable, police said.

The value of the crown was estimated to be around Rs 10,000.