The TTD was told by police that the gold was recovered from a robber. (Representational)

The police have recovered an equal weight of gold from a man who is suspected to have stolen three golden crowns, totally weighing 1.3 kg, from a shrine and melted it, a TTD official said on Monday.

The Tirupati police, which investigated the theft of crowns from the ancient Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple in February, handed over the gold recently, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal told reporters.

The TTD was told by police that the gold was recovered from a robber who was suspected to have stolen and melted the crowns, he said, declining to elaborate.