Milpitas Hindu Temple Targeted as South Bay Faces Wave of Donation Box Thefts
A pre-dawn burglary at the Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple in Milpitas left the local Hindu community shaken when intruders made off with the sacred hundi and jewelry in September 2025. The theft is part of a widening pattern of break-ins targeting Hindu temples across the South Bay, one that has drawn the attention of prosecutors and community advocates alike. A 2024 Santa Clara County DA case charged a San Jose man with stealing more than $50,000 from at least eight institutions — including a Sunnyvale Hindu temple raided three times in a single spree.
🪔 Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple Burglary Leaves Milpitas Devotees Heartbroken
The Shirdi Sai Parivaar Temple in Milpitas became the latest South Asian house of worship to be targeted by thieves when intruders broke in during the early morning hours of Thursday, September 25, 2025. According to temple officials who spoke with Diya TV — America's largest South Asian television network — the burglary occurred between 5:30 and 5:40 a.m., a narrow ten-minute window during which the perpetrators gained entry by forcing open a side lobby door before advancing into the main hall of worship.
Once inside, the intruders made directly for the center donation hundi, the sacred vessel used to collect offerings from devotees accumulated over weeks of celebrations. Critically, the hundi was not merely opened and emptied — it was physically wrenched from its position and carried out of the premises entirely. The spiritual and emotional significance of that act was not lost on temple leadership. 'We don't know how much cash is lost. Our hundi is gone, completely taken away. It's very sentimental for all of us. More than money, we are heartbroken that someone entered the temple and stepped onto the podium,' a temple spokesperson told Diya TV.
The thieves did not stop at the hundi. They also removed jewelry from the Chavdi — sacred articles placed in devotional offering by congregants over many seasons of prayer. For temple volunteers, this distinction mattered: the loss was not simply financial but a desecration of consecrated space that the congregation depends on for spiritual sustenance and community belonging.
CCTV cameras inside the temple captured the suspects in action. Temple officials promptly shared the footage with Milpitas police, who opened a formal investigation. The incident is one in a growing series targeting Hindu and South Asian places of worship across California and the United States. Over the past two years, temples in Santa Clara, Fremont, Newark, and Sacramento have all reported comparable break-ins and vandalism, and a similar pattern drew national attention in Indiana. Community leaders have responded with urgent calls for stronger physical security measures and for federal recognition of what they describe as an escalating pattern of opportunistic and hate-motivated crime against Hindu institutions. Police have urged all nearby places of worship to review their security protocols. For the Shirdi Sai Parivaar congregation, an outpouring of community solidarity has followed the theft, even as the wound to the spiritual community remains raw. [5]
Santa Clara County DA Charges San Jose Man in South Bay Temple Burglary Spree
The Milpitas temple break-in is not an isolated episode but part of a documented regional pattern. A Santa Clara County District Attorney case from March 2024 illuminates how entrenched the problem has become. Prosecutors alleged that Jaime Gutierrez Flores, 33, of San Jose, broke into at least eight churches and temples across the South Bay between December and February, culminating in his arrest at a San Jose church. Flores was held on $1 million bail as prosecutors moved to hold him and any accomplices fully accountable.
The charges alleged repeated targeting of a single Hindu temple in Sunnyvale, which was allegedly hit on three separate occasions. According to the DA's office, the total stolen from that one temple exceeded $45,000, all taken from donation boxes in what prosecutors described as systematic, premeditated break-ins. The scope of the alleged spree — eight institutions, multiple perpetrators, tens of thousands of dollars stolen — prompted a forceful statement from District Attorney Jeff Rosen. 'Our schools, our homes, our places of worship, are special and sacred places, and when they are invaded by criminals it feels as though our whole community has been violated,' Rosen said. 'Our office will hold this criminal, and anyone who acted with him, fully responsible to the law.'
For the South Asian community of the South Bay, the DA's charges arrived as validation of a concern long expressed by temple leaders: that Hindu places of worship have become disproportionate targets, often because donation hundis are perceived by criminals as holding large amounts of cash. The intersection of religious practice and security vulnerability has forced uncomfortable conversations within communities historically built on openness and trust. Temples now face difficult choices about surveillance systems, reinforced entry points, and restricting public access to donation areas.
The Milpitas burglary in September 2025 — coming more than a year after the DA's 2024 case — signals that even with prosecutions underway, the pattern continues. Community advocates have renewed calls for coordination between law enforcement and temple leadership, and several Hindu American organizations have pressed federal authorities to track temple-targeted crimes as a distinct subcategory under hate crime statutes, arguing that consistent data collection is the first step toward a durable protective response. [7]