Hisar: Three masked thieves looted Rs 1.50 lakh and jewellery said to be worth nearly Rs 24 lakh from the Shri Shayam Baba Mandir at Hansi, about 25 kms from here, today, police said.   The miscreants looted the cash and jewellery early in the morning and escaped after locking the priest in a room of the temple, they said.   

The thieves gained entry inside the temple from the roof. They broke the lock of donation box and stole the cash, police said, adding that they also took away golden crown of Shri Shayam Baba along with other gold ornaments.   Before escaping, they cut the wires of CCTV cameras installed in the temple, they said.   

Temple's senior functionary Jagdish Mittal said he reached the spot at 4 AM and rang up the police control room number several times, but, he claimed, that nobody picked up the phone. "The police reached the spot after several hours," he alleged. A large number of devotees gathered at the temple by morning, raised slogans against the alleged police inaction. They alleged that police resorted to lathi-charge.   

The police, however, denied there was any lapse on their part in attending to the complaint promptly. They said a case has been registered and further investigations were under process. On new year's eve, a programme was organised in the temple that ended at about 2 AM.