<p>Devbhumi Dwarka: A stone 'Shivling' was found stolen from a temple in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat on Tuesday, a day before the Maha Shivratri festival, following which a multi-agency operation was launched to recover it and nab the suspects, officials said. The incident occurred at the Shree Bhidbhanjan Bhavaneeshvar Mahadev temple, located on the shore of the Arabian Sea at Kalyanpur and near the famous pilgrimage site of Harsiddhi Mataji temple. </p><p>The priest of this ancient Shiva temple was in for a shock when he found that Shivling was uprooted from its place and stolen along with its base, an official said. </p>.Thousands of devotees offer prayer at Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple on Maha Shivratri.<p>"All other items in the temple were intact in their place," police inspector Akash Barasiya said. "The base of the Shivling was found lying on the beach nearby, after which a team of scuba divers was roped in to search the stolen Shivling inside sea water as there is a possibility of it being thrown into it," he said. Separate teams of the local crime branch, special operations group and local police have been formed along with forensic experts and a dog squad to investigate the case, the police said. </p><p>An FIR was registered under section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for theft, and a search operation is being carried out, he said. The priest said that when he reached the temple premises, he found the door open. When he looked inside, he found the Shivling missing from its place, after which he immediately informed the police. </p><p>The incident comes a day before Maha Shivratri, a festival celebrated annually in honour of the deity Shiva. </p><p>The temple where the incident occurred is believed to be centuries old. Shivling is believed to be a manifestation of Lord Shiva's cosmic energy and is revered as a symbol of creation, preservation, and dissolution.</p>
<p>Devbhumi Dwarka: A stone 'Shivling' was found stolen from a temple in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat on Tuesday, a day before the Maha Shivratri festival, following which a multi-agency operation was launched to recover it and nab the suspects, officials said. The incident occurred at the Shree Bhidbhanjan Bhavaneeshvar Mahadev temple, located on the shore of the Arabian Sea at Kalyanpur and near the famous pilgrimage site of Harsiddhi Mataji temple. </p><p>The priest of this ancient Shiva temple was in for a shock when he found that Shivling was uprooted from its place and stolen along with its base, an official said. </p>.Thousands of devotees offer prayer at Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple on Maha Shivratri.<p>"All other items in the temple were intact in their place," police inspector Akash Barasiya said. "The base of the Shivling was found lying on the beach nearby, after which a team of scuba divers was roped in to search the stolen Shivling inside sea water as there is a possibility of it being thrown into it," he said. Separate teams of the local crime branch, special operations group and local police have been formed along with forensic experts and a dog squad to investigate the case, the police said. </p><p>An FIR was registered under section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for theft, and a search operation is being carried out, he said. The priest said that when he reached the temple premises, he found the door open. When he looked inside, he found the Shivling missing from its place, after which he immediately informed the police. </p><p>The incident comes a day before Maha Shivratri, a festival celebrated annually in honour of the deity Shiva. </p><p>The temple where the incident occurred is believed to be centuries old. Shivling is believed to be a manifestation of Lord Shiva's cosmic energy and is revered as a symbol of creation, preservation, and dissolution.</p>