Unidentified men broke open the hundi of Mariamman temple at Kamanaykenpalayam near Palladam in Tiruppur and escaped with the collection on Tuesday night. A sum of Rs. 45,000 is expected to be there in the hundi.

The robbery came to light when devotees who came to the temple found the hundi broken.

On information, Kamanaykenpalayam police rushed to the spot and conducted investigation. The culprits, who gained entry into the temple by scaling the backside wall, used the spear kept in the temple to break the hundi, police said.

Temple authorities open the hundi once in two years, few days before the Panguni festival.