The police recovered the entire stolen booty and claimed that a former watchman of the temple had tipped off the gang about the expensive idols and valuables in the temple.
With the arrest of eight members of a gang on Friday, Mumbai crime branch officials claimed to have solved the Jain temple robbery that occurred last month in Borivli (West). The police recovered the entire stolen booty and claimed that a former watchman of the temple had tipped off the gang about the expensive idols and valuables in the temple.
On August 22, a group of dacoits looted six idols and valuables worth Rs4.5 lakh from the Nandishwar Digambar Jain temple after killing one security guard, Devilal, 55, and grievously injuring the other, Ramprasad Joshi, 30, with iron rods and lathis.
The arrested gang members were identified as Haroon Abdul Shaikh, Ramesh Mohan Patil alias Bhaijaan, Santosh Bhoir, Rajguru Singh alias Raju Punjabi, Suresh Gupta, Vinod Yadav, Michael Thapa alias Vickey and Mukesh Yadav.
“An ambulance driver, who was near the temple, had seen the culprits flee after committing the crime,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy. “On the basis of the information he provided, the gang was arrested by officers of the Kandivli unit of the crime branch. The accused are not part of any tribal gang as was earlier suspected.”
He added that Shaikh was the kingpin of the gang, which he formed two years ago along with Bhaijaan when they met at Aurangabad jail.
“In 2005, the duo learnt that petals were showered on the temple from a helicopter on the occasion of its foundation,” said additional commissioner Deven Bharti. “They had been plotting to commit a theft since then, as they realised that the temple would have expensive idols and other valuables. After they came out of jail, they planned the robbery for a month.”
The gang had hidden the booty at an unknown location. “We have recovered the stolen property,” said another police official. “We learnt that Shaikh had also murdered his wife in Mumbai a few years ago. We are gathering details on that case too.”
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