Murtis of Prabhu Ram, Sri Laxman, and Shabri Mata were stolen from Maharashtra’s Sahasrakund Tirthkshetra by unidentified miscreant(s) who subsequently discarded the murtis at Painganga dam. The temple is in Kinwat Taluka’s Islapur village of Maharashtra’s Nanded District.
The news spread like wildfire after some devotees noticed the missing murtis. Along with locals of Kinwat, devotees from Vidarbha marched to the police station to condemn the theft and demanded that the accused be arrested within 24 hours.
As per Deshonnati’s report, unidentified person(s) robbed the vigrahas made of cement on the night of 4 February and deliberately discarded them in the dam to hurt the religious sentiments of the devotees. The theft came to light on 5 February. Following the discovery, locals lodged a police complaint.
It has also come to light that a person whose identity hasn’t been revealed had repeatedly objected to the murtis. Locals have accused the person of threatening the Pujari and objecting to the performance of puja and Archana. Furthermore, he had thrown away the Pujari’s belongings. In their complaint, the devotees doubted that the same person was involved in the theft. A case has been registered with the Islapur Police Station.
Locals and other devotees have vowed not to give up until the accused is caught. Several cases of theft in Mandirs have been reported from across Bharat.
