Unidentified miscreants strangulated a priest before stealing precious idols from a temple in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, a police officer said today.

The incident took place at Rahua Math late last night as some unidentified miscreants barged into the temple and strangulated the priest Akshay Das before stealing eight precious idols of different dieties, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mustafiq Ahmed said.

The stolen idols made of precious Astadhatu metal was worth several lakh rupees, he said.

The priest's body has been sent for post-mortem, the DSP said, adding a probe was on in the matter.