Thieves strike Kerala family temple 6 times a year, clueless committee members install sensor alarms

It was around 3.30 am on Sunday when Rajappan Pillai, a retired PWD employee from Ettumanoor in Kottayam, was jolted awake by an alarm on his mobile phone. From its shrill tone, he sensed immediate danger — someone had trespassed into his family-owned Kuttikkatt Kottaram Bhagavathy Temple nearby.

It was the third time the alarm had gone off, and both the earlier alerts had been linked to theft attempts. Three other family members living nearby received the same notification. After a quick exchange of calls, they rushed to the temple, where they saw a man fleeing by scaling the back wall. CCTV footage later showed a man wearing a shirt and trousers, carrying a bag, moving inside the temple premises. The police were alerted immediately.

According to Pillai, this was the sixth attempted theft at the temple since the beginning of 2025. The decade-old shrine is privately owned by the Nalankilettu family, to which Pillai belongs. With no daily rituals, the temple is opened only five or six days a month — a factor the family believes thieves are exploiting.

Ironically, the temple houses no valuables. The deity is made of stone.

“The first time it happened, there was no security system. We lost a gold chain weighing about one sovereign and a brass vessel. The chain was the only ornament regularly worn by the deity. All other ornaments were kept safely elsewhere. After that, we stopped placing any gold on the idol,” Pillai said. During the second attempt, the door of the thidappally, where pooja items are stored, was set on fire. CCTV cameras were then installed and wooden doors replaced with iron ones. Despite these measures, another break-in followed soon after, during which a small room was forced open.

“That was when we decided to install a warning alarm, on the advice of the same firm that installed the CCTV system,” he said. The upgraded surveillance now detects movement and sends instant alerts through a mobile application. The family has spent nearly ₹50,000 on strengthening security.

“At present, five of us receive the alert simultaneously. One member of the family, Vivek, lives in the UK and he too gets the notification. Since the temple is within walking distance and all of us live nearby, we always go together. We don’t know how many people might be inside or whether they could be violent. In the last three incidents, including the latest, the intruder fled after hearing us open the gate or enter the premises,” Pillai said.

The alarm remains active between 10.30 pm and 6.30 am — the time window during which most attempts have occurred, usually between 3 am and 4 am. Motion-sensor lights have also been installed to deter intruders and alert neighbours.

The Ettumanoor police inspected the premises multiple times, and a forensic team collected fingerprints and other evidence, but no leads emerged. In the latest attempt, an Aadhaar card belonging to a Tamil Nadu native was found inside a wallet at the site. However, CCTV footage showed the intruder deliberately discarding the wallet, leading police to suspect it was planted to mislead the investigation.

Pillai said police had earlier taken one person into custody after the first theft, but he was later released due to lack of evidence.

“The temple is close to a railway track, so sounds often go unnoticed. That could be another reason it is being targeted. Except during the Mandala-Makaravilakku season, it opens only on Fridays and on the first day of every Malayalam month. Since it remains unoccupied most of the time, thieves may see it as an easy target,” he said.

Despite regular night patrols by the police, there has been no breakthrough so far. “This is a small temple, privately managed by our family. It is not wealthy compared to others, yet the attempts continue, and we still don’t know why,” Pillai said.