Watch: Thief enters temple, prays before stealing donation box in Madhya Pradesh

Screengrabs from the viral video shared by Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) on Twitter.

A thief has been caught on CCTV cameras stealing from a temple in Madhya Pradesh, but not before praying to the deity. The video of the incident is now viral on social media.

In the clip, the thief was seen driving up to the Hanuman temple in a white hatchback, entering with folded hands and praying or seemingly apologising (as suggested by social media users) to the deity before stealing the donation box. He had even left his slippers outside the temple.

The incident took place around 2 am on Monday in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur. Temple authorities had reported the theft in the morning.

The police is currently on the lookout for the accused.

A thief was caught on #CCTV cameras in #Jabalpur, driving up to the temple in a white hatchback, entering with folded hands and seemingly apologising to the idol before stealing the donation box.#madhyapradesh #viral #ViralVideo #india pic.twitter.com/taFzZjUq8Y

— Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) October 27, 2022

In a similar incident, in May, a gang of thieves allegedly performed puja before looting a Kerala bank of gold and cash worth Rs 34 lakh.

According to a report in Manorama, the incident had taken place at Pathanapuram Bankers, a private financial institution in Kollam district. The owner filed a complaint with the police after he found out that 100 sovereign og gold and cash worth Rs 34 lakh kept in two lockers were missing.

During investigation, the police found out that the theives had performed some ritual at the site. The image of a deity with a garland around it, betel leaves, a small spear with a lemon stuck on it and a bottle of liquor was found at the spot.

Read more: Viral video: This Bihar thief stole a phone from a moving train, ‘Spider-Man’ style