Five Arrested in Kasibugga Temple Burglary; ₹40.25 Lakh Loot Recovered
Three of the accused have criminal records, with the ringleader Srinivasarao involved in 38 previous theft cases, while his accomplices have 10 and 7 theft cases, respectively.
Visakhapatnam: Srikakulam district police have arrested five persons involved in the burglary at Vijaya Venkateswara Swamy Temple, popularly known as Chinna Tirupati and falling within the limits of Kasibugga police station on January 9.
Announcing the arrests at a press conference held on Tuesday, district superintendent of police K.V. Maheshwara Reddy said their investigations led to resolving of four other burglaries under the Kasibugga and Narasannapeta police stations in Srikakulam district, and Battili police station in the Manyam district.
The SP disclosed that the entire property worth ₹40.25 lakh stolen in the temple theft – 6.5 tolas of gold ornaments, 15 kilograms of silver ornaments, and approximately ₹80,000 in cash from the temple's donation box – has been recovered. Additionally, police recovered ₹2,000 cash and 3 grams of gold related to the other cases.
Those arrested are Kuramana Srinivasarao (25), the main accused, Savara Bogesh (26), Savara Sudarshan Rao (25), Pulletigurthi Chakradhar (37), and Dara Ramesh Kumar (36), all from various villages in L.N. Peta mandal and Hiramandalam.
Three of the accused have criminal records, with the ringleader Srinivasarao involved in 38 previous theft cases, while his accomplices have 10 and 7 theft cases, respectively. All the three had served jail terms previously.
On the night of January 9, the accused had removed a window of the temple under renovation. They broke the locks to steal the valuables. In an attempt to destroy evidence, they removed the CCTV camera DVR box and threw it into a nearby pond.
Police have recovered the DVR as part of their investigation.
