Udupi, Oct 30, 2015: The Udupi DIstrict Crime Intelligence Bureau has busted an inter-state racket of temple thieves and has recovered valuables worth nearly Rs 28 lakhs from three of the accused who have been arrested.
Those arrested are Firoz Pasha and Mohammad Shabeer (20) of Sira in Tumakuru and Narasimharaju (37) of Doddaballapura. They were arrested by a Police team led by DCIB Inspector TR Jayashanker on October 29.
Giving information regarding the same to reporters here on October 30, Friday, UdupI SP Annamalai said the recovered valuables included gold weighing 553 grams, silver articles weighing 20 kgs, a Tata Sumo, two motorbikes, seven mobile phones and a cash of Rs 20,650. The SP stated that all the recovered valuables amounted to Rs 28,01,370.
Annamalai said the trio were wanted in connection with the theft of jewellery worth Rs 4.75 lakh from the Hiriadka Mahalasa Narayani Temple and Durga Parameshwari Temple. He said the accused had also stolen cash from the donation box of Mahalingeshwara Temple, Miyar and Mahalingeshwara Temple, Pilar in Shirva apart from cash, gold as well as CCTV cameras from Adyapady Durgaparameshwari Temple. They were also involved in burglaries in Chikkaballapur and Tumakuru districts, the SP stated.
He said the police were on the lookout for two more accused namely Rehman Shira and Chand Pasha.
He said the thieves came to know about temples after watching TV programmes and then hatched plans to burgle them. He said the thieves even had around 600 locks and 250 keys.
The SP informed that the police in Udupi have solved 8 of the 16 temple theft cases in the district.
Santosh Kumar, Additional SP was also present at the press meet.