Bengaluru: Sampigehalli police arrested two priests working in a temple for allegedly stealing cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 8 lakhs from the house of a devotee. The incident came as a shock to devotees of the temple as this case was the first of its kind.
According to police, Lakshman (42), a resident of Srirampura, and Nagaraj (38), a resident of Chikkaballapura, who are working as priests in Maramma temple, Srirampura have been identified as the accused.
They allegedly looted the house of Pavan, a devotee, when he was on a pilgrimage with his family. Pavan is a resident of Srirampura within the Sampigehalli police jurisdictional limits.
According to the Sampigehalli police, Pavan was a devotee of the Maramma temple and had a good equation with both the accused.
“These priests were using Pavan’s car to visit their devotees’ houses. Pawan had attached the key of his house along with the car keys to the same keychain. The accused got a duplicate house key made and on October 17, the duo gained entry into Pavan’s house when he left on a pilgrimage with his family,” explained the police.
Pavan had approached the police and when a probe was launched they found that the two priests were the only ones who were aware of the pilgrimage.
At the time of interrogation, the priests confessed that they had looted the house.
