The thief prayed before the goddess before committing the crime.
A video showing a theft inside a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur is gaining traction on social media. Captured by the CCTV installed inside the temple in Sukha village, it shows a shirtless thief entering the inner sanctum and bowing before the chief deity - a goddess - before committing the crime. The interesting gesture by the thief has given social media users several talking points. Since being uploaded just a day ago on Twitter, the video has gone massively viral, amassing hundreds of thousands views.
The viral video shows the thief, with his face covered, lifting the curtain and entering the inner sanctum of the temple. He gets surprised after seeing a huge statue of the goddess.
The thief then bows before the statue of the goddess and proceeds to steal the donation boxes and other valuables.
The incident took place on August 5 and the police are now analysing the CCTV footage to catch the thief.
According to the police, the thief also stole two big temple bells and offerings presented to the goddess by the locals.
Twitter users had a field day after the video surfaced.
"If a devotee is stealing from the abode of the God, it is not theft. A devotee will seek help from the God during difficult times," a user tweeted.
"The thief killed two birds with one stone - kept his faith alive and carried out his business too," tweeted another.
A few months ago, another video went viral on social media that showed a thief breaking into dance after robbing a hardware shop. The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli, near the residence of a Superintendent of Police, in April this year.