'Devotee' steals idol's gold chain as priest does puja

A man stole a gold chain from an idol by sweet-talking the priest into performing a special puja on his new bike outside the sanctum sanctorum of Amba Maheshwari Temple in Kamakshipalya police station limits. The incident occurred on the morning of August 19, the police said.

The suspect had met the priest, requesting him for a special puja on a bike he had bought recently. The priest agreed and asked him to wait awhile until he cleans the temple. The suspect sat on a chair and watched the priest clean the temple.

The priest then came out of the sanctum sanctorum with puja material while the suspect stood outside. The priest started walking towards the bike parked a short distance away. Just then, the suspect darted to the sanctum sanctorum and stole the gold chain. He joined the priest in the puja in no time. Once the priest completed the puja, the suspect gave him some money and sped off.

The priest had a shock in store. While performing a different puja around 10 am in the sanctum sanctorum, he realised that the gold chain was missing. He quickly went through the footage of the CCTV camera installed in the temple and realised what had happened. He told the police the suspect had visited the temple on a few occasions. The police said they were searching for him.

Duo snatches 3 chains

Two unidentified men snatched three gold chains from as many women in different parts of Bengaluru in all of 75 minutes on Monday. Police believe the suspects operated in a gang in all the three incidents.

The duo, riding a bike, first targeted Shashikala who was taking a morning walk in a park in Malleswaram around 6.45 am. About 45 minutes later, they robbed Roopa, who was also on a morning walk near her house at Kempapura in Amruthahalli police station limits. She lost her 90-gram gold chain.

Bhadrakalamma was walking to a shop near her house in BEL Layout in Vidyaranyapura police station limits around 8 am when the miscreants followed her on a bike.

One of them quickly snatched her 50-gram gold chain as she moved towards the first block. The duo then sped off. A police officer said they had recovered footage from CCTV cameras and the hunt was on for the suspects.

Car set afire

A Toyota Innova car parked outside a house at Karu Mariyamma Layout, 2nd Stage, in Jnanabharathi was set on fire by miscreants early Monday morning, its owner, T Murthy, stated in a complaint to the police.

He said he was woken up

by the smell of smoke. When he opened the door and darted out, his car was already in flames, he said in the complaint. Police said that the car was partially gutted.