Two masked men stole 3kg of silver from Hari Mandir in Phase-5 in the early hours of Friday. The incident comes three days after two masked men targeted three gurdwaras in Kharar and stole ₹20,000 from the donation boxes of two of them.
CCTV footage shows two masked-men entering the premises after scaling the temple’s boundary wall around 2.30am. They broke the grille to enter the sanctum sanctorum. The accused used a pair of pliers to remove the silver-coating on the shivling. They also stole the silver snake covering it.
Police said it seemed the accused had done a complete reconnaissance of the temple before targeting it. They were inside the temple for around two hours, as per the CCTV footage.
The theft was discovered around 4.30am by the priest. Small temples of different deities, within the main temple had been locked. Therefore, the thieves were only able to enter the shivalaya, said the police.
An FIR was registered on the complaint of mandir committee secretary Surinder Kumar Sachedeva in the Phase-1 police station. “The wall on the backside does not have barbed wires. Now, we will increase the height of the wall and put a wire on it,” said mandir committee president Mahesh Manan.
There are seven cameras on the temple’s premises. The accused covered most of the cameras with cloth and snapped the wires of two cameras. However, they were caught on the camera installed near the shivling. The accused had covered their faces with monkey caps. One of the men hurt himself and could be seen limping. Though three priests were sleeping on the temple premises, they did not hear the intruders.
