PUNE The Pune rural police have arrested two women and a man for their involvement in 20-25 cases of theft of donations and valuables from temples across Maharashtra.
The three were identified as husband-wife Shahrukh Raju Pathan, 24, a native of Purandar in Pune, Pooja Kaidev Madnal, 19, a native of Junabidi Kumbhari in Solapur, both residents of Gopal Shirgaon in Kolhapur and the woman’s sister Anita Govind Gajakosh, 19, who lives with the couple and is a native of Vijapur in Karnataka. The three have been remanded to police custody till January 15 by a court in Pune.
The three have allegedly confessed to have stolen jewellery and valuables from around 24 temples in Nagpur, Wardha, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad, Satara, and Kolhapur along with Pune, according to the police.
The three landed on Pune rural police radar after jewellery from the idol of Goddess Shirsai from a temple in Shirsuphal village in Baramati taluka was reported stolen. The theft was suspected to have been committed between 1am and 3am on January 8.
The police have recovered all the stolen jewellery from Shirsai temple along with copper utensils, and jewellery from other temples in the state and a stolen car from the three. The worth of the seizure is estimated to be around ₹12 lakh.
Dr Abhinav Deshmukh, superintendent of Pune rural police formed a team of Baramati taluka police station officials under leadership of police inspector Mahesh Dhawan.
“The various teams that were formed after visiting the spot, went through footage of 60-65 CCTV cameras in Shirsuphal, Malad, Kurkumbh, Daund, and Baramati and nearby areas. However, the night-time footage did not help the police identify the number of the car. However, using other techniques, the teams found the number of Eeco car MH14FX4576. The vehicle was reported stolen from Pimpri on December 4, 2019,” read a statement from Pune rural police.
{{/usCountry}}“The various teams that were formed after visiting the spot, went through footage of 60-65 CCTV cameras in Shirsuphal, Malad, Kurkumbh, Daund, and Baramati and nearby areas. However, the night-time footage did not help the police identify the number of the car. However, using other techniques, the teams found the number of Eeco car MH14FX4576. The vehicle was reported stolen from Pimpri on December 4, 2019,” read a statement from Pune rural police.
{{/usCountry}}The police tracked them down to Gokul Shirgaon in Kolhapur and set a trap near their house from where they were arrested.
Shahrukh Pathan has multiple cases of vehicle theft registered against him at Bhosari, Samarth, Faraskhana police station in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
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Alert citizens, priest foil theft bid at Swami Samarth temple
The alert citizens the priest of Swami Samarth temple in Manjri Budrukh area of Pune foiled a theft of donations by catching the thieves in the act on Saturday midnight.
One of the three thieves was identified as Chetan Kisan Salunkhe, 26, a resident of Sargam chowk area of Pandharpur. He was caught by residents who raised an alarm and alerted the priest and his uncle. The two others fled the spot under night cover, according to the police.
Around 11:30pm on Saturday night, Nilesh Bhale, 25, a resident of Manjri Budrukh and the priest of Swami Samarth temple was alerted after he heard raised voices of people living around the temple. His maternal uncle and Bhale both ran out to find three men running. The residents and priests caught one of them.
The three had forced the lock of the temple open and had made a failed attempt at breaking the donation box. A case was registered at Hadapsar police station.