Duo attack temple priest, steal gold chain adorning deity

Posing as devotees, two men entered a temple at Srinivasanagar in south Bengaluru on Monday morning and fled with a gold chain adorning the deity.

They threw chilli powder into the eyes of the priest when he tried to catch them.
The incident occurred at 6.10 am at Renuka Yellamma temple. Manjunath, the priest, was going towards a corner of the temple to collect water for the puja when one of the suspects approached him. “He sought details of Panchamrutha abhisheka and I gave him the details,” Manjunath told DH.

As Manjunath was returning to the sanctum sanctorum after collecting water, he spotted a stranger coming out holding the gold chain. “I realised that he had stolen the gold chain and ran towards him to nab him,” the priest added.

He threw chilli powder into Manjunath’s eyes and the duo escaped. They were wearing monkey caps while running away from the temple. There are two CCTV cameras opposite the temple, but are defunct, said the police.

Recently, the temple’s administrative body had relieved the earlier priest of his duties and appointed Manjunath in his place. The police suspect the involvement of the former priest in the incident. Local residents said a silver plate was stolen from the temple about two weeks ago.