Hyderabad: Two sisters were arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing idols from the Sri Vinayaka Temple in Hyderabad’s Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar or SR Nagar after a ‘baba’ advised one of them to install and worship idols, promising it would be beneficial for her.
Unable to buy idols due to poor finances, Swarna Latha, the main suspect, allegedly roped in her sister, Pavani, to steal the idols from the temple, according to the SR Nagar police.
P. Venkata Ramana, the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of the SR Nagar division, said that Swarna Latha consulted the ‘baba’ due to a string of unfortunate deaths in her family. Then, with help from Pavani, she committed the theft on 8 March, added the ACP.
Investigations revealed that Swarna Latha’s brother, Andrew, passed away some years ago due to health issues. Then, in January 2019, her nephew, Vivek, died by suicide, after which, in May 2019, her sister Pavani’s husband, P.V. Ramana, passed away after testing positive for COVID-19. To make things worse, Swarna Latha lost her father, Venkataratnam, to illness and her husband, Sunil Kumar, to a road accident.
“Distressed by these events, she consulted a pujari (‘baba’) … Believing his words, she wanted to buy the idols but could not afford them due to insufficient funds,” said the ACP in a press release.
The police added that Swarna Latha visited temples to check how easily she could commit a theft there, subsequently stealing a Shiva idol and a Parvathi idol from the Sri Vinayaka Temple.
Soon after, Sri Salimadugu Narender Reddy, the executive officer of the endowments department, informed the police of the stolen idols. After the sisters’ arrest, the police retrieved the stolen idols, made from an alloy of gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron, called ‘Panchaloha‘.
“Further enquiries are underway to determine the motive behind the theft and to ascertain if they are linked with similar crimes,” the ACP added in the press release.
Hyderabad Police have also cautioned the temple management, asking it to verify staff and visitors and conduct background checks for the staff and regular vendors.
Hyderabad last year witnessed a string of idol desecrations, leading to communal tension.
The Pochamma temple of Gokul village in Shamshabad, the Hanuman temple in the same area, and another temple in Secunderabad saw desecrations, leading to retaliation and protests.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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