Duo arrested for stealing temple kalash

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing a kalash from a temple at Shri Krishna Chowk in Kurla West. According to the Unit 5 of the Mumbai crime branch the accused took the kalash to sell it in Pune

Mumbai: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing a kalash from a temple at Shri Krishna Chowk in Kurla West.

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According to the Unit 5 of the Mumbai crime branch the accused took the kalash to sell it in Pune. However, they threw it in a nullah after they realised that the 1,800-gram vessel was made of ordinary metals.

The police have identified the accused as Atishchandra Bharatlal Yadav, 26, based on footage of the CCTV cameras covering the temple and arrested him in Mumbai. His accomplice, Ravi Soni, 27, was arrested in Pune.

The police officials said Ravi Soni of Uttar Pradesh had come to Mumbai a week ago and required money. Yadav was staying with his relative in Kurla. The duo spotted the kalash in the temple and decided to steal it, thinking that it was made of gold.

Around 4.30pm on December 18, Yadav entered the temple and went to the terrace. When the other accused came with a bag, the duo took the kalash and also tried to steal silver jewellery kept on Lord Shiva’s idol, but they could not remove it. They then left from the back door of the temple, Ghanshyam Nair, police inspector, said.

Soni had taken the Kalash to Pune, where he consulted a jeweller and learnt that it was made of panchdhatu – a combination of five ordinary metals.