Four Ahobilam temple staff arrested for stealing cash from hundi

Four staff of the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, Ahobilam, were arrested for stealing cash from hundi on Thursday. The four were caught stealing cash in the CCTV recordings, police said.

According to Allagadda sub-division police officer K. Pramod, they received a complaint from the temple authorities about cash stolen from the hundi in the main temple. In the complaint, the temple chief operating officer T.G. Sundarajan raised suspicion on four persons who work inside the temple as the culprits behind the theft.

“We verified CCTV footages installed in the temple premises through which we cracked the case,” Mr. Pramod said. The DSP said that between 5.40 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the four accused were found loitering near the hundi. “Taking advantage of the absence of other staff members or devotees at the time, the main accused pulled out cash from the hundi using an iron hook. Later, all the four walked out of the temple premises slowly,” Mr. Pramod said.

The main accused has been identified as Arigela Narasimha. He holds the umbrella of the Lord Narasimha during rituals. The other accused are Rampala Subbarayudu, Karanam Niranjan, who break coconuts offered by the devotees, and N. Potuluraiah Achari. “All of them work inside the temple and are from Ahobilam town,” the DSP said. The four were arrested from Bachapuram Metta and ₹82,000 stolen cash was recovered from them.

Mr. Pramod said that the entire Ahobilam town is under CCTV surveillance and a strict vigil would be kept against any kind of anti-social activities by the police.