Thieves broke into a Hindu temple in Swindon and fled with a series of collection boxes and valuables after looting the premises and vandalizing the sacred altar.

The raid on the Swindon Hindu temple in Wiltshire was discovered by staff on last Saturday.

Temple president Pradeep Bhardwaj reported the incident to the police and Swindon Borough Council and called for immediate 24×7 security intervention. He is also seeking an urgent meeting with the Wiltshire Police, the Commissioner of Crime and the Chief of Police, as it is the fifth raid on the temple.

“The thieves broke all the doors of the temple, vandalized many rooms, took away thousands of pounds in cash and other expensive items,” he said.

“They also entered the main altar of the temple, where the deities are placed, and vandalized that area – this is a highly sanctified and consecrated space where only priests can enter. This is a matter of great concern and of utmost sensitivity for all Hindus, not just in Swindon and the UK, but globally,” he said.

It will impact the religious sentiments of more than 10,000 people in Swindon and thousands more in the region, he said.

“This is the only Hindu temple in this whole area, in the county and far beyond, and as it had been closed for most of the past 18 months, the community was looking forward to resuming normal activities, especially since the main The Hindu festival period has just begun, “he said. “We are at a breaking point right now in every sense of the word,” he said.

Police and forensic teams spent several hours on the spot. A Wiltshire police spokesman confirmed that officers were called to the scene on Saturday “following a burglary believed to have occurred the night before”. Investigations are ongoing.

Image source:TOI