VIJAYAWADA: A day after the three silver lion statues on the chariot stationed near Mallikarjuna Mahamandapam were found missing, Kanaka Durga temple AEO N Ramesh Babu on Thursday filed a complaint at One Town police station. In his complaint, the AEO said that the temple authorities have not taken out the chariot for procession after Ugadi last year.
A couple of days ago, when Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam officials proposed engineering works on the temple premises, they found that the three silver lion statues on the chariot were missing. The gold appraiser of the devasthanam and other officials confirmed that statues were stolen, Ramesh Babu said.
Responding to the complaint, Commissioner of Police B Sreenivasulu said that an FIR has been registered in this connection. Three special teams were constituted to speed up investigation. One Town CI P Venkateswarlu said, “We are verifying the photographs and videos of the chariot covered with tarpaulin.” Temple Trust Board Committee chairman P Somi Naidu said that the chariot was not used for processions for the past 17 months. Last year, after the procession during Ugadi, it was covered with a tarpaulin, he said.
“We have also verified from the store rooms after the silver lion statues were found missing from the chariot,” he added.Elaborating, Somi Naidu said that the security agency entrusted with the task of providing security in the temple, (Max Security Agency), recently stated that the statues were not handed over to them. “In this regard, we have filed a complaint with the One Town police,” he said.
Meanwhile, EO MV Suresh Babu said that he does not have the store room keys. “When we didn’t find the silver lion statues in the store room, we have registered a complaint with the police,” he added.