Kondagattu temple theft case: Police nab three suspects, silver recovered

Jagtial: The police have made a major breakthrough in the Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy temple burglary case, with the arrest of three suspects on Saturday. The accused are believed to have targeted the temple after seeing media coverage of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's visit.

According to police sources, three masked burglars were caught on CCTV footage gaining entry into the temple. A manhunt was launched involving ten special teams, leading to the arrest of the three suspects. The police recovered the stolen silver articles from the accused.

It is learnt that the accused are known property offenders from Karnataka who have stolen silver articles from other places of worship in the past. While three of them broke into the temple, the fourth member provided support from outside.

It is to mention here that A theft of two idols was reported at the Kondagattu temple in Jagityal district after the temple staff and priests noticed it and informed the police. The police arrived at the scene and conducted an investigation inside the temple and found that around 15 kg of silver and gold jewelery has been found missing from the famous shrine of Kondagattu Anjanna Temple.

The police found that the three persons have entered the main temple from the Betala temple area at the back side of the main temple. The Dog squad teams deployed at Candidate to find out the thieves while special teams are collecting the finger prints. Malayala CI reached Kondagattu and started investigating the theft. The details of the stolen silver items include 2 kg silver makara toranam, 5 kg silver frame of Anjaneyaswamy in Ardha Mandapam, four 3 kg silver shetagopas and 5 kg silver sheath of Swami were stolen. It is learned that about 15 kg of silver worth Rs. 9 lakh was stolen.