Thieves Who Took Treasures From Temple Give Back Items After Suffering Nightmares

A gang of thieves have returned some of the stolen goods they took from an ancient temple.

They say what goes around comes around and karma certainly hit this group of thieves quickly. On Monday, 9 May, 16 statues estimated to be worth millions were stolen from the Balaji Temple in India.

However, just a week later, the majority of the idols were returned to the chief priest of the temple.

A note revealed the robbers gave the items back because they'd been suffering from 'scary dreams'.

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The temple is dedicated to Lord Balaji - an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. It is 300 years old and is located in Uttar Pradesh.

Out of the 16 statues the robbers nicked from the temple, 14 were returned to the chief priest's house in Chitrakoot district.

Police inspector Rajiv Singh told Agence France-Presse the group left behind a 'confession letter'.

"[It] said they were returning the idols because they were having scary dreams," Singh said.

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According to police, the letter said: [Translation] "We have not been able to sleep, eat and live peacefully. We are fed up with the scary dreams and are returning your valuables."

As well as taking idols the thieves also took silver ornaments which were on top of the statues.

One of the idols weighed around five kilograms due to it being made up of an alloy of eight metals called Asthadhatu.

Four others weighed around 15kg and were made of brass. Another three weighed 10kg and were made of copper.

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Reddit users were quick to leap to the story to point out how, 'Guilt has a funny way of f***ing with you'.

"The gift of guilt is one that keeps on giving whether you want it or not," one said.

Another noted the thieves may still have 'scary dreams' because they didn't return all of the statues.

"They returned 16 of 18 statues. Are the other 2 not gonna pull some voodoo to get returned?" they commented.

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Despite the group of thieves' decision to return the majority of the stolen goods, no members of the group have yet been identified.

Two teams have since been formed by authorities to work together to arrest the thieves.

Under section 380 of the Indian Penal Code, authorities have also lodged a case of theft against unidentified persons.

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Topics: Crime, World News

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.