Thief apologizes first to the mata, prays and then steals the crown in Hyderabad, Caught on Camera

Devotion, it appears, isn’t enough to prevent a crime, even in a temple. A ‘devotional’ thief was caught on camera offering prayers to a deity, seconds before stealing the idol’s crown on Wednesday evening.

CCTV footage of the incident which has surfaced, shows the thief entering the sanctum sanctorum of Durga temple in the city's Gunfoundry area at around 6.20 pm.

He then goes on to pray to the diety for a few minutes. He folds his hands, holds his ears, turning around in the spot several times and even bows before the idol. Following this, he pulls the crown off the idol.

Seeing that the crown was tied to the idol with what seems to be a thick thread or a necklace, he is seen trying to untangle it.  As he struggles to do so, he takes a break, to continue his prayers, before finally untangling it and making away with the idol, by hiding it in his clothes.

Watch the video Here. 

A CCTV footage of a theft at Durga Bhavani Mandir in Gunfoundry, Secunderabad. A crown of Durga mata was stolen from the temple. Interesting to see how the thief apologizes first to the mata, prays and then steals the crown. Case registered, investigation underway. #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/kZ06DZpI4W

— Paul Oommen (@Paul_Oommen) November 21, 2019

A case has been registered under Section 380 (Theft in dwelling house) of the IPC.

"The custodians of the temple approached us last night and filed a complaint and we have registered a case. Further investigation is underway," SHO Kandula Ravi Kumar from the Abids police station told TNM.

The police are also going through CCTV footage to analyse if the accused had visited the temple recently, to surveil the premises before carrying out the theft. 

Police are also trying to ascertain the identity of the accused. 

Earlier this year, three crowns were stolen from the of Sri Govinda Raja Swamy temple in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati town. The three crowns which were stolen, weighed approximately 1,351 gm and were valued at around Rs 50 lakh.

The police managed to crack the case after close to three months, but the accused had already melted the crowns and was looking to sell the gold, when he was arrested.