Police arrest three for theft at temple in Sewri, recover stolen gold and silver

Mumbai Police arrested three suspects in connection with an alleged theft at the Sri Shivdi Jain Sangh temple in Mulraj Bhawan area of Sewri and recovered gold and silver ornaments from them, an official said.

The incident took place between 22 April and 23 April, involving the theft of gold and silver ornaments from the idols of the deities and cash from the temple donation box.

Following the incident the R.A.K Marg Police had registered a case and launched a probe into the matter.

According to the police, the accused had broken open the lock of the closed temple and made away with approximately 190 grams of gold ornaments and 750 grams of silver ornaments. The stolen items included gold tikas, silver crowns, and other valuable religious artefacts, amounting to a total value of nearly Rs. 5.7 lakh.

During the alleged theft, they had covered their faces with handkerchiefs, destroyed the CCTV cameras and the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) which was installed to record footage captured by the CCTV cameras. They had intentionally damaged it by cutting its wires to prevent police from accessing the recorded video that could help identify them.

Yet, the police team involved in the investigation — which included 14 police officers, including the technical team, detection officers, crime PI, and constables — meticulously scanned over 70 CCTV cameras across 29 different locations to trace the movements of the suspects before and after the theft. Following their trail, police were able to identify and locate the accused in Banaskantha, a district in the north-eastern part of Gujarat.

Following a three-day operation, the police arrested the accused on Friday. The arrested individuals have been identified as: Sunil Singh Dabhi (23), Rahul Singh Vaghela (20), and Jigarsingh Vaghela (19) — all residents of Banaskantha. All the stolen property was recovered from the accused during the operation.

The investigation was conducted under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 4) IPS R. Ragasudha, while the operation was led by ACP Matunga Division Yogesh Gawde and R.A.K. Marg Police Station PI (Crime) Mr. Sandeep Randive, supported by a team of 14 police officers and personnel.

This article first appeared on Mid Day