3 held for assaulting temple priest near Mumbai, stealing ₹6.8K from donation box

Virar police arrested three people for allegedly assaulting a 54-year-old priest and care-taker of a temple with boulders and sticks and stealing ₹6,800 from the

Virar police arrested three people for allegedly assaulting a 54-year-old priest and care-taker of a temple with boulders and sticks and stealing ₹6,800 from the donation box on Thursday morning.

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The priest, Shankaranand Dayanand Saraswati, who lives inside the temple at Bhalivali village, Virar off the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, was asleep when the attack took place. Another care-taker of the temple, Shyamsingh Thakur, was also sleeping in the temple premises. The three accused – Anil Bhujad, his brother Sunil and a man identified as Karela – entered the temple and assaulted Saraswati and Thakur.

“As Saraswati was grievously injured in the attack and Thakur rushed outside the premises to call for help, the three accused took away the donation box containing ₹6,800, a copper urn and other valuables from the temple. They also shattered the window panes of the temple,” said a Virar police officer.

The police registered a case under sections 394 (injury while robbery) and 427 (mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and arrested the three men on Thursday evening, based on the description given by the Saraswati and Thakur. The accused were produced before the Vasai court on Friday and sent to police custody. “We only recovered some of the money stolen from the temple and are investigating the case further,” the officer said.

The development comes a month after three people, including two seers, were lynched by a mob of more than 500 locals in Gaddchinchale village in Palghar’s Kasa area. More than 150 people were arrested by the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for murder, attempt to murder and on other charges.