Gold, silver and cash was not what this gang of burglars was after.

They broke into the ancient Mariamman temple at Irakkankudi village of Viridhunagar district in the dead of the night on Thursday and broke three locks of the storeroom and escaped with valuables.

The valuables they were after: human hair.

When N Ramaswamy, head priest of Mariamman koil, opened the temple as usual on Friday morning he was shocked to find the temple storeroom doors ajar and its three locks fallen down. The thieves had broken the locks and entered the storeroom and carted away 800 kg of valuable estimated to cost anything between Rs 45 lakh to Rs 60 lakh.

The burglars, who the police believe could be from the same village, carried away 16 gunny sacks full of human hair.

Are you surprised at this unusual object of desire of the looters? Don’t be.

Indian hair, from the offerings made by many devotees, who pledge and offer their hair to the Gods and Goddesses as wish fulfilment gift, is much in demand in Europe and Asia. Fashion designers to wig makers long for black Indian hair, the colour and texture of which is popular and sought after.

They source the human hair from agents in india who participate in auctions by temples.

Tirupati, the richest lord in the country, in Andhra Pradesh, has embraced technology fully and conducts periodic e-auctions to sell human hair that devotees offer. But many temples like Mariamman temple of Irakkankudi carry on with physical auctions.

The last time such an auction was held three years ago, Mariamman temple earned a sum of Rs 3.3 crore, temple head priest Ramaswamy said.

The thieves, who broke into the temple complex on Thursday night, carted away some 16 gunny sacks – containing some 800 kg of human hair. At a rough estimate, the hair taken away would ccost anything between Rs 45 lakh to Rs 60 Lakh, the priest said.

Local police official of the village said that their modest estimate of the value of the hair stolen was Rs 45 lakh, Which, could be higher, as the auction may fetch a higher price.

The theft took place just when the gunny sacks full of human hair stored for the past three years was being processed and getting readied for auction. The auction was scheduled to be held in about a fortnight, temple administration sources said. They were waiting for the permission from district administration to carry out the auction.

Luckily, the thieves took only 16 out of the total 80 gunny sacks, stored in three rooms in the temple complex.