Almost a day after the three silver lion statues affixed to the chariot at Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple went missing, the temple authorities gave a shock on Thursday.
Confirming that robbery took place in the temple premises which went unnoticed from so many months, the temple Chairman lodged a complaint with One Town police.
Suspecting that the robbery took place between April 2019 to September 2020, the officials claimed that the overall cost of the three missing lions is estimated to be over Rs 20 lakhs.
It can be recalled that the temple authorities refused to confirm any sort of robbery immediately after the news broke out while the temple Executive Officer speculated them to be in lockers.
The EO was also learnt to instruct the employees to trace where the three lion statues and verify records within the next three days. The chariot was used every year during the Ugadi celebrations but was not taken out this year as the festivities were cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The chariot was covered and unattended ever since. Oppositions BJO and TDP alleged foul play with a series of similar incidents across the state.
