The police on Tuesday took three persons into custody for allegedly trying to pilfer the offerings being made into the hundi at the temple of Lord Venkateswara.
The vigilance sleuths who noticed the theft on the CCTV cameras immediately alerted the staff at the hundi, who caught a person on the spot and also recovered ₹20,000 in cash.
After preliminary investigations, he was later handed over to the police.
The modus operandi of the accused was to accost devotees desirous of making huge offerings, and snatch away the offerings from the other side the moment they tried to deposit them into the hundi.
Giving no room for suspicion, the booty was passed on to one of the accompanying accomplices.
The police is learnt to have taken the other two also into custody.
All the three accused are believed to be natives of Tirupati.
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