Thieves Steal Bags Of Human Hair From Indian Temple

The city police were in for a shock on Monday as a unique crime was reported from the Simhachalam temple. While most thieves eye precious jewellery and other items, a group of miscreants fled with 10 bags of special grade human hair worth around Rs 10 lakh from the temple premises.

According to sources, this was the first time that such an incident happened in the Port City. Thieves entered the Lord Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple on Sunday night and took away the best quality human hair kept at Kesa Khandana Shala (tonsuring centre).

"We were shocked to hear about the incident. These days, thieves are not sparing anything that can generate money. Devotees generally take deeksha and do not cut hair till their aspirations are fulfilled. Once their desires are fulfilled, the devotees come here and get their heads shaved," one of the police officers at Simhachalam told TOI.

The hill shrine is once of the most sought-after pilgrim centres for not only North Andhra people, but also from other districts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Every day, thousands of devotees visit the temple and offer prayers. Hundreds of them get their heads shaved to offer hair to the lord (Talaneelala Samarpana).

The staff of the tonsuring centres would collect the hair and segregate them as per quality and length, sources said, adding that the staff would generally store the hair at a room near the centre to sell it through auction.

Temple executive officer K Ramachandra Mohan told mediapersons that there were 15 bags of special grade human hair and from that, the thieves took away 10 bags weighing more than 150 kg.

DCP (law and order) G Ramgopal Naik said preliminary investigation suggests that it might be the handy work of insiders as the crime was committed when the security guards were posted outside the building. Cops suspect that the miscreants might have entered the room from the terrace by using a rope.
"They cut the grill door in the terrace and gained entry to the first floor," sources said. 

I guess that hair would make it's way to Nigeria or China.