The city police has asked temple committees to keep gold ornaments and other valuables belonging to their deities in bank lockers or in the safe custody of committee members.
The police is advising these precautionary measures following the recent spate of temple burglaries.
Subsequently, inspectors from various police stations have been meeting the temple committees and requesting them to keep their valuables under lock and key instead of leaving them in the temples unprotected.
An inspector of police in East Zone confirmed, “We have asked temple committees to take all measures to minimise losses in case of theft.”
Meanwhile, in a related development, the police commissioner, Mr Anurag Sharma, said that he had written letters to the endowments department to provide CCTVs and other security facilities to the temples.
“City police do not have the budget to provide CCTV cameras to temples. It is for the temple committees and endowments departments to do that,” he added.
Mr Sharma went on to say, “Certain criminals target temples. We are on the lookout for such offenders.”
In a related development, as many as 13 suspects have been picked so far in connection with the temple burglaries in the city.
“We have formed five special teams to crack the temple burglaries in the city. We have picked up around 13 suspects known for their modus operandi and have started interrogation. The cases would be solved soon,” Mr Sharma said.
The police commissioner added that a professional gang could be involved in the series of temple burglary occurred in old city.