Hyderabad: Gang held for stealing Rs 3 Cr worth panchaloha idols from Temple

The Rachakonda police on Friday arrested three persons for stealing Rs 3 crore worth panchaloha idols from a temple at Gundepudi in Mahabubabad district. The police caught hold of the accused at Kothaguda crossroads at Abdullapurmet while vehicle checking and recovered the Kakatiya era idols which were cut into pieces from them. "The next move of the gang was to melt the pieces to extract gold," the police said.

The three-member gang committed the crime on October 28 from Lord Rama temple and it came to light on next morning when the temple priest noticed the idols missing. The accused were identified as K Latchi Ram (31) of Saidabad, K Santosh (21) of Meerpet, V John (31) of Chaitanyapuri.

According to the police, Latchi Ram who visited the temple learned about the old panchaloha idols and got to know their value between Rs 2 to 3 crore after searching in Google. Ram then approached Santosh and John for stealing the idols. They conducted a recce on October 27 night and stole them the very next day.

Of the 12 panchaloha idols, the gang cut three of them into pieces while remaining 9 were concealed at their home, police said.