Thieves stole huge amount of gold and silver ornaments adorned on Goddess Durga, charity boxes full of uncounted amount of money, and about Tk 4.5 lakh in cash from the vault of Dhakeswari Mandir on Saturday night.
The burglars broke open four locks of the temple’s main gate after it was closed at about 9:00pm on Saturday and took away 200 bhori gold, six bhori of silver ornaments, and also broke the vault inside the main chamber to take the cash, the authorities said.
Temple authorities said they found the locks broken and everything stolen when they came to start the day’s worship at 6:00am.
Chawkbazar thana police officer Ekram Hossain said the temple’s night guard and three other employees were detained for interrogation in connection with a case filed by Dhaka Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee president BS Chandra Saha.
Saturday’s theft, the third such heist in Hindu Temples in the capital in a span of 18 days, will create a negative impact on the Hindu community, said Dhaka Mahanagar Sarbojanin Puja Committee general secretary Babul Devnath.
Ornaments worth more than Tk 10 lakh were also stolen from the Baradeswari Kali Mandir on December 12 and Joykali Mandir on December 22.
Local lawmaker Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddn and senior officials of different law enforcing agencies including DMP commissioner Benazir Ahmed visited Dhakeshwari Mandir on Saturday.
Officers of other law enforcing agencies including CID and RAB also inspected the crime spot.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Lalbagh zone’s deputy commissioner Mohammad Khurshid Alam told reporters that a thorough investigation would be carried out and those involved would be brought to book.
The temple authorities said worshipping remained suspended since Sunday morning.
