Mother–daughter duo arrested for stealing gold from devotees at Dharmasthala temple

Mangalore Today News Network

Belthangady, Nov 27, 2025: Dharmasthala Police have arrested two women who had stolen gold jewellery belonging to devotees at the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala temple.

The arrested accused are B.B. Jaan (59) and her daughter Masabi @ Aarthi (34), residents of Gangadhar Nagar, Settlement 2nd Cross, Hubballi in Dharwad district. The duo had stolen gold ornaments from the bag of devotees who had come from Andhra Pradesh and later fled the spot.

After nearly five months of investigation, Dharmasthala Sub-Inspector Samarth Ganiger and his team successfully traced and arrested the mother–daughter duo.

According to the complaint, J. Latha, a resident of Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, along with her family, left home on May 2 and reached Dharmasthala for darshan on May 3 between 5:15 pm and 6 pm. She was carrying a bag with 97 grams of gold worth ₹6,79,000. Later, while travelling towards Udupi for some work, she noticed the gold was missing. She immediately returned to Dharmasthala and lodged a complaint on May 4.

For five months, Dharmasthala Police investigated the case across various leads, but the accused kept moving from place to place to evade arrest. Finally, on November 23, acting on reliable information, police apprehended the duo near Dwarka, Dharmasthala, when they allegedly returned to commit another theft.

They were produced before the Belthangady magistrate on November 23 and remanded to judicial custody. On November 24, they were again produced before court and handed over to five-day police custody for further investigation.

During the inquiry, Dharmasthala Police recovered 76 grams of gold worth ₹5,32,000 from the accused’s residence in Hubballi on November 25.

Investigation revealed that both women were involved in several theft cases registered in various police stations earlier. They primarily targeted temples, mingling with devotees to steal gold ornaments and cash.

After completing interrogation and recovery procedures, Dharmasthala Police presented them before the Belthangady court on November 26 at 4:30 pm, where the court remanded them to 14 days of judicial custody.

The operation was conducted under the guidance of Belthangady Sub-Division DySP Rohini C.K., led by Belthangady Inspector Subbapoor Math, and executed by Dharmasthala Sub-Inspector Samarth R. Ganiger with staff members Rajesh, Prashanth, Charan Raj, Sandeep, Mallikarjun, Shashikumar, Manjunath Patil, Pramodini, Sunitha, Saubhagya, Deepa, and Usha.