Three priests were found brutally murdered and the hundi boxes were ransacked at the Sri Arakeshwara Swamy Temple premises in Mandya early on Friday morning.
Police said the bodies of Ganesh, 55, Prakash, 58, and Anand, 40, were lying in a pool of blood the temple premises situated in Guttalu on the outskirts of Mandya town. The deceased persons were not only priests of the temple, but also worked as guardians and slept in the temple premises.
According to police, the heads of the deceased were crushed allegedly by boulders while the hundi boxes had been taken out of the temple and emptied. The currency notes in the hundi boxes were missing and the coins had been left behind. The miscreants had also ransacked the sanctum sanctorum of the temple in search of valuables.
The incident, which has sent shock waves among the people in Mandya, came to light when the locals went inside the temple early on Friday morning after finding the main door ajar.
Senior police officials including Superintendent of Mandya district police K Parashuram visited the spot. Mandya Lok Sabha member Sumalatha too visited the temple. Several priests of other temples too turned up at the temple and urged the authorities to bring the guilty to book.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister B S Yeddiyurappa has announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh each to the families of the deceased priests and assured that necessary action will be taken against the culprits.
