VISAKHAPATNAM: Unidentified miscreants burgled the famous Karakachettu Polamamba temple in the heart of the city on Saturday night and decamped with 350 grams of gold and cash from hundi. Incidentally, the temple is located just a stone’s throw from III Town police station and the office of Visakhapatnam district SP at Peda Waltair, where sentries keep round-the-clock vigil.
The miscreants snapped cables of all the 17 CCTV cameras installed on the temple premises and took away the hard disc to erase all evidence. Making their job easy, the sanctum sanctorum keys were kept in an almirah in the temple. They opened the sanctum sanctorum and took away the gold crown and 4 kg of silver ornaments of the presiding deity. The miscreants also broke open the hundi and took away cash.
Karakachettu Polamamba is the presiding deity of 14 localities in Peda Waltair. According to the police, the miscreants entered the temple by breaking open the door. A function was held at the temple on Saturday evening. As a result, the temple was closed around midnight. When the temple staff came in the morning, they found the door open and alerted the police immediately. A sniffer dog squad and a clues team were pressed into service.
The temple watchman told the police that a few people came around midnight and asked him in Hindi whether they could sleep on the temple premises and when he refused, they left the place in vehicles.
As there is a temple festival in April, the authorities had planned to open the hundi on March 29. Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu visited the temple and enquired about the incident.