3 arrested for robbery of antique idols from Kashimira temple

The hunt for members of the Ravi Pujari gang, suspected to be involved in four cases of firing in the western suburbs recently, has led to the police cracking another case involving the robbery of antique idols from a temple in Kashimira last year.

The hunt for members of the Ravi Pujari gang, suspected to be involved in four cases of firing in the western suburbs recently, has led to the police cracking another case involving the robbery of antique idols from a temple in Kashimira last year.

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The police arrested three of the accused in the case on Tuesday. Police officials said the arrest of the three accused will give vital inputs about the Pujari gang members involved in the firing.

The reason for this is that the three arrested accused have been closely involved with suspect behind the firings. There have been four cases of extortion related firings in the Khar, Oshiwara, DN Nagar and Santacruz area over the past few months suspectedly at the behest of Ravi Pujari.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Western Region), Amitabh Gupta said, “We have narrowed down most of the suspects affiliated to the Ravi Pujari gang in connection with the four instances of firings in the suburbs.”

“The three accused we arrested on Tuesday are closely linked to the suspects narrowed down in the firing case. Infact some of the firing suspects were also involved in the plot to rob the idols from the Kashimira temple last year,” he added.

The accused, Deepak Bhajanlal Singh alias Thakur alias Vikram Dildarsingh, Vicky Prem Deol and Kishan Dhanraj, were arrested by the Meghwadi police on Tuesday as they were preparing to commit dacoity. Police seized a country revolver and two live rounds from the accused.

Two other accused, Ashok and Bablu and a third unidentified accused are absconding. The police managed to recover ninety percent of the property stolen from the temple.

According to Meghwadi senior police inspector S. Kolekar, “The accused had stolen some idols, donation money and a diamond studded silver crown kept at the temple.”

“The accused had buried the stolen goods underground, but we have managed to recover almost everything. Two or three idols and some cash are still missing.”

“We cannot ascertain the exact value, as the temple authorities are themselves in the dark about the value of the idols or the donation collected,” he added.