Srinagar, Sept 13: Burglars break donation box of the shrine of Hazrat Gousul-Ul-Azam Dastigeer Sahib at Khanyar in the down town Srinagar to loot cash, official sources said on Sunday.
Police has collected CCTV footage of the area and also pressed into service sniffer dogs and forensic experts on the job.
Sources said some burglars had broke iron chest (donation) box of Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadeer Jeelani popularly known as Dastigeer Sahib during the intervening night. This morning the donation box near the main entrance of the shrine was seen broken.
Police guards are posted at the shrine which was gutted in a mysterious fire in June 2012.
Sources said the donation box was found broken this morning. However, there was still cash in the box, they said adding it was not immediately clear if any cash has been looted.
A case was registered in the nearby police station Khanayar. Later police collected CCTV footage of the area, they said.
According to Management of the shrine, cash is collected from the donation box every fortnight.
A CCTV footage of the area show a youth wearing under shirt breaking the box with the help of iron rod.
Burglars looted cash and other valuables from a shrine and Jamia masjid in the central Kashmir district of Ganderbal recently.
A police spokesman this afternoon sought help from the general public to identify a suspect persons involved in the theft case at Dastigeer Sahib shrine at Khanyar.
He said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the case.
He said on September 13 Police Station Khanyar received an information from Intizamiya (management) Committee of Dastageer Sahab Shrine Khanyar that during intervening night some unkown thieves have attempted to break the donation box for taking away some cash from the box.
Accordingly, a case FIR No. 66/2020 under relevant sections of law has been registered in Police Station Khanyar and investigation taken up.
He said a SIT has been formed by SDPO Khanyar to investigate this case and the investigating team immediately collected the CCTV footage and obtained the photographs of one suspect in the case to nap the accused.
The general public especially the residents in vicinity of the Dastageer Sahab are requested to share any information/clue regarding the case or about the identity of the suspect to Police Station Khanyar.
He said the name of the person providing any clue or information regarding the suspected thief will be kept confidential.
