After the centuries’ old gold treasure was found in the ancient temple of Sree Anantha Padmanabha Swamy in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, unscrupulous gangs in Andhra Pradesh have embarked on treasure hunting and in the process began the destruction of ancient temples.

The gangs are roaming free and uprooting statues of gods and goddesses in several temples, in addition to digging in the abandoned temples on hill locks and lonely places.

Bukkapatnam police have recently arrested four persons who have uprooted the ancient deity of Goddess Parvathy in a Shiva temple built by the King Sri Krishna Devaraya. Police said that the area of Penukonda, which was said to be the summer capital of the King Sri Krishna Devaraya, has begun witnessing lot of digging in its surroundings.

The gangs are operating in areas of Madakasira, Gooty,  Ratnagiri and their surroundings too, police said.  The treasure hunters have uprooted the huge Nandi in Siva temple atop Madakasira hill in the hope of finding gold jewellery. The gangs have also unceremoniously destroyed the famous ‘flower symbol’ in Lord Vishnu temple in Kambadur as they suspected that it was embedded with lots of diamonds.

Senior police officials said they have kept a watch on the gangs who have intruded into AP from Tamil Nadu and have been destroying the ancient temples and hill lock structures. “We will soon arrest them,” they said.