VISAKHAPATNAM: Unidentified miscreants broke into the Kesakhandanasala (tonsuring room) of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy temple atop Simhachalam and made away with about 10 bags of special grade hair in the wee hours of Monday. The hair weighing 154 kg is estimated to be worth `10 lakh.
The miscreants used a rope, a knife and a rod to scale the building near the entrance of the main temple, from its rear side and reached the hair storage room on the first floor. They later broke open the locks of the room and fled with the hair bags. Though there were 14 bags of the special grade hair, which has high value in the market, the offenders seemed to have managed to steal only 10 bags. They left behind their tools along with a bag.
“While tonsuring is conducted on the ground floor, the hair is stored in the first floor. As there was huge rush on Saturday and Sunday, a large quantity of hair was offered to the Lord by the devotees and the same was stored in the room. It appears to be an insider’s job,” the police said.
Incidentally, the theft has brought to light the poor security arrangements atop the Simhachalam hill. When the police went to check the CCTV footage in a bid to close in on the accused, it was discovered that none of the closed circuit cameras installed at the Kesakhandanasala was functioning. At least six CCTV cameras were installed inside the building but none of them was functioning.
“We are examining if other CCTV cameras are functioning or not and investigating all aspects of the case. The fact that miscreants knew where the hair storage room was, has given us some leads to proceed in the investigation,” the police official said.