Man held for temple donation box thefts in Fort

The MRA Marg police recently arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly stealing a donation box from a Sai Baba temple last month. The police suspect that the arrested person could be involved in similar cases in the Fort area.

The arrested youth has been identified as Shankar Raghu Gauda, who resides at footpath, near the lane connecting towards St George Hospital in Fort.

According to police, on November 11, complainant Nathuram Sitaram Shindhankar (51), a resident of Bhupat Bhuvan building at Vaju Kotak Marg in Fort, learnt that the donation box of a Sai Baba temple in the building was stolen during the wee hours of the day. A complaint was then lodged against an unknown person at the MRA Marg police station.

"Shindhankar runs a bookstall near Old Custom House and, along with another member of the building Bishveshwar Jaiswal, takes care of the temple and also posses the donation box keys. The said donation box is opened only once in three years. The temple functions from 7am till midnight,” said an official from MRA Marg police station.

Explaining how the police reached Gauda, the officer said, "Last Saturday night, a police team was patrolling at the St George Hospital lane when Gauda suddenly started running on seeing the police vehicle. We then chased and apprehended him. During the inquiry, he admitted that he had stolen the donation box of the said temple."

The police are yet to recover the temple donation box and the stolen money and suspect Gauda to be involved in similar offences in the area. Gauda was produced before a local court and is in police custody till Wednesday.