Six temple burglars arrested

• Gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees, cash recovered
• Accused used to roam around targeting temples in the guise of repairing LPG stoves

Mysore/Mysuru: Six persons accused in burgling temples have been arrested and gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees, Rs. 4,06,081 cash, 22 mobile phones and three two-wheelers have been recovered from them, said Superintendent of Police (SP) R. Chethan.

Disclosing this at a press meet held in his Office here yesterday, the SP said that T. Narasipur Police had registered a case of temple burglary which took place on June 16 night, where burglars had decamped with gold ornaments weighing 484 grams worth about Rs. 17.50 lakh and cash from hundis (offering boxes) after breaking the door of Tripura Sundari Temple at Mugur village in T. Narasipur taluk.

Following the burglary, a special Police team led by Nanjangud Sub-Division Dy.SP Govindaraju was formed and the Police team has nabbed the accused in a few days at Chamarajanagar, the SP added.

The SP further said that one Bajaj Pulsar bike, one Bajaj bike, one TVS XL moped, 22 mobile phones, gold ornaments, Rs. 3,89,737 cash, Rs. 16,344 in coins all totalling Rs. 4,06,081 have been recovered from the accused.

Accused used to target temples

Continuing, SP Chethan said that the accused used to roam around many places in the guise of selling bangles and repairing LPG stoves to identify temples and had targeted Sri Tripura Sundari Amma Temple at Mugur village, Chowdeshwari Temple at Hale Tirumakoodalu village, Hindi Maramma Temple at Agara village in Yalandur taluk and Ramavva Temple at Chinnadagudi Hundi village in Nanjangud taluk besides lifting a bike in Alanahalli Police limits and a moped in Nanjangud Rural Police limits, which came to be known during interrogation.

Accused from Mysuru and Chamarajanagar sides

The SP said that the accused are from Mysuru and Chamarajanagar sides and a few among the arrested accused had come out of jail two months ago. Police have launched a hut to nab one of the accused, who had fled from the spot when the Cops raided a place to arrest them, he added.

Pointing out that the accused never stayed in one place for more than one or two months and shifted their place of stay frequently, the SP said that the accused had visited Sri Tripura Sundari Temple in the guise of devotees and had planned well in advance before burgling the Temple.

“There is information that the accused had kept the stolen booty with them and had melted the gold ornaments before selling it. As it had been two to three days since they burgled Tripura Sundari Temple, they were unable to sell all the gold ornaments. Information is being collected pertaining to where all they had sold the stolen gold which they had burgled earlier,” SP Chethan said.

Defunct CCTV camera

CCTV cameras installed at Sri Tripura Sundari Temple at Mugur village had become defunct and a letter has been written to the Muzrai Department asking the authorities to get the defunct CCTVs in all temples coming under their Department repaired, the SP said and added that there was no security guard at the temple besides stating that an investigation regarding where all the accused had committed burglaries is going on.

Rs. 10,000 cash prize

SP Chethan has announced a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 to the Police team led by Nanjangud Sub-Division Dy.SP Govindaraju and T. Narasipur Inspector Krishnappa, for cracking the temple burglary case and arresting the accused.