VIJAYAWADA: A Kanaka Durga temple employee and his wife were caught stealing a 12 gram gold chain from a hall where hundi collection was being counted on Tuesday morning. The duo were caught within 15 minutes of the theft as security personnel were monitoring the counting process through CCTVs.
According to temple officials and police, the accused staffer Simhachalam came out of the Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam while the counting was still going on. Tracking Simhachalam’s movements, the security personnel nabbed him while he was handing over the gold chain to his wife Durga, who works with the temple’s sanitation wing.
The issue was brought to the notice of temple executive officer V Koteswaramma, before handing over the couple to the I-Town police. A case under section 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the IPC was registered.
Koteswaramma said this was the first case of theft from temple’s hundi after she assumed charge, and added the counting was being carried out in the presence of officials from the endowments, revenue and police departments under CCTV surveillance. Departmental action would be taken against the accused and vigilance on the premises will be improved, the EO said.