Miscreants looted money from one of the donation boxes of the famous Gupteswar cave shrine in Boipariguda block of Koraput district on Thursday night.
The miscreants stole the money by damaging the lock of the box put up near the main gate of the shrine. The incident came to light when a staff of the ticket counter of the shrine spotted the box lock broken on Friday morning.
The temple priests informed the incident to the Endowment Department and police, following which a probe was launched.
Notably, the State Government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore for the development of the Gupteswar cave shrine. As per the plan, the shrine would be transformed into a major religious, historical and tourism spot.