Kerala police suspect international gang behind temple burglary
The stolen ornaments are at least 1,500 years old and can fetch millions in the global market
By : kiran tom sajan
Update: 2014-06-28 06:03 GMT
Kochi: The Panangad police suspects the involvement of international professionals in the burglary at the Nettoor Mahadeva Temple near Maradu as the stolen ornaments are at least 1,500 years old and can fetch millions in the global market. Most of the stolen ornaments are made of bronze and are invaluable in archaeological terms.
“Legend has it that Parasuraman built this temple. Archaeologists say it is at least 1,500 years old. So its possible that a gang specialising in stealing articles of archaeological significance was involved in this robbery,” said a police officer.
The police is however, not ruling out the possibility of country burglars mistaking the bronze ornaments for gold and stealing them. “The ornaments were recently polished by the temple authorities and so its possible for robbers to think they were made of gold,” an officer added.
The police, which has formed a special investigation team of 10 officers to investigate the case, is verifiying the fingerprints taken from the spot to see how many were involved in the robbery.
“As the priests were at the temple till late night, the fingerprints collected from the spot will have to be crosschecked with theirs to arrive at the exact number of robbers,” said the officer.
The burglary was noticed by a temple priest who opened the doors of the Sreekovil for early morning pooja Thursday.