A $10,000 deity of Lord Subramaniam was stolen from Gita Bhavan temple, Manchester, UK.

The precious bronze-plated, hand-crafted icon was taken soon after an afternoon worship session. The raiders entered by breaking the first entrance, where they then hooked a rope from the door of the living quarters of the priest and a radiator which then locked the priests inside.

Premalata Shastri (wife of one of the priests) tried to open the door to get into the main worship area but the door was jammed stuck. This enabled thieves to have enough time to steal the statue, which was an important feature of the temple amongst others.

Dhana Laxmi Bala, a worshipper that attends the temple, paid £5,000 for the statue to be made and transported from India to England. She states "the statue became a source of strength for me after the death of my husband Bala Subramaniam".

She further adds "It's heartbreaking. The idols mean so much to us; it's so painful. They mean nothing to the people who stole our statue."

A picture of the statue has been sent to India where worshippers hope that a replacement can be made.

The investigation still continues where a police spokesman said door-to-door inquiries have been made.