it-s-viral

Updated: Jul 28, 2020 00:47 IST

Hyderabad police are on the lookout for a man who quietly stole a silver crown of the presiding deity of a temple but without forgetting to worship the goddess before and after committing the theft.

The incident happened at Goddess Durga Bhavani temple at the busy commercial centre of Abids in the city on Wednesday evening. It came to light on Thursday when a video of the theft, recorded in the temple’s CCTV camera, surfaced on social media.

In the video, the thief enters into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and prays to the deity for some time. He also does a couple of sit-ups and then looks around – assumingly to ensure that nobody was observing him. Then, after moments of struggle, he removes the crown from the idol.

The story, however, continues as he takes a few seconds to worship the deity again. Eventually, he pushes the crown behind his shirt, quietly walks out, and disappears from the area on a motorbike.

Take a look at the video:

The video has created quite a stir among people. It has also sparked all sorts of reactions on different social media platforms.

“It’s prayers which can make a man perfect,” jokingly wrote a Facebook user. “He is asking for forgiveness, on the spot. LOL,” wrote another. “Start any job...must with prayer...that is good information,” commented another. “Before robbing the crown he apologised.” commented a fourth.

The priest, who came to the temple later, was shocked to find the crown missing and asked the manager whether he had removed it for cleaning. When the manager said no, they went through the CCTV footage and realised that somebody had stolen the ornament.

The Abids police have registered a case of theft under Section 380 of Indian Penal Code section 380. “We are closely examining the CCTV footage to find out whether the thief was a habitual offender. We are also examining the footage of the previous days to know whether he had conducted a recce on the temple before committing the theft,” said Abids Inspector of Police Kandula Ravi Kumar.