Two involved in temple theft cases arrested

Initial investigation revealed the involvement of the accused in five temple thefts, two thefts at petrol bunks and a case of mugging of a few pedestrians.

February 02, 2021 12:35 am | Updated 10:26 am IST - Mangaluru

The two said to be involved in nine thefts were arrested by Mangaluru police on Monday.

The two said to be involved in nine thefts were arrested by Mangaluru police on Monday.

A team of police from the South Sub Division Police has arrested two of the six persons said to be involved in nine criminal cases, including five cases of theft in temples, reported in Mangaluru and other police limits in Dakshina Kannada.

Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar gave the names of the accused as Mohammed Suhail (19) and Nizamuddin (21), both from K.C. Road, Talapady.

A search is on for four of their associates, Mr. Kumar told reporters here on Monday.

Mr. Kumar said that a special team had been formed to trace the accused in the wake of the recent thefts at temples in Konaje, Ullal and Mangaluru Rural police limits. CCTV footage related to the theft at the Gopalaswamy Temple in Konaje, which clearly showed the accused and contained other technical evidence, led to the arrest of the accused.

Initial investigation revealed the involvement of the accused in five temple thefts, two thefts at petrol bunks and a case of mugging of a few pedestrians.

Three criminal cases were registered in the Konaje Police Station, two in Ullal Police Station and a criminal case each in Punjalkatte, Bantwal, Mangaluru Rural and Kankanady Police Stations.

The police have recovered from them money and other articles stolen from the temples, he said.

After the theft at the Gopalaswamy Temple, Mr. Kumar said, the accused had defecated on the temple premises. Stating that these accused were not involved in the cases related to throwing unwanted material in and desecration of Daivastanas and Bhajan Mandir, Mr. Kumar said that there was another group of offenders involved in those acts and a special team is trying to trace it.

Mr. Kumar asked people to share with police information, if any, they have about those accused.

Top News Today

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.