Inter-state gang’s temple run ends, 4 held
Three members of an inter-state gang of thieves and a Lucknow-based jeweller involved in the August 14 heist of 3.6kg silver and desecration of a temple have been arrested by Khanna police, officials said on Thursday.
Blurb: The accused had decamped with 3.6kg of silver from a temple in Khanna on Aug 14
Three members of an inter-state gang of thieves and a Lucknow-based jeweller involved in the August 14 heist of 3.6kg silver and desecration of a temple have been arrested by Khanna police, officials said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Resham Singh alias Rinku, 32, of Sindhi Jhala of Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand, Ravi Kumar and Honey of Mahinpur in Rupnagar. The jeweller, who used to buy stolen jewellery from the accused, has been identified as Rajiv Kumar alias Soni of Lucknow. One of the gang members, identified as Mohit of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, is yet to be arrested.
Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashwini Gotyal said the accused used to identify their targets via Google search.
“Resham Singh, who is facing at least 10 FIRs, was arrested from Delhi, Ravi Kumar was arrested from Chandigarh, while Honey was nabbed from Ropar. Resham Singh and Mohit are key accused and are involved in most of the thefts reported from pan India. They kept changing their partners. Mohit, who is yet to be arrested, is facing trial in five cases. The jeweller, who used to buy stolen jewellery from the accused, has at least 12 cases lodged against him,” she added.
SSP Gotyal said a total of six teams were formed to crack the case. “The police also received help from Batala, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand police to solve the case.
“After learning about the temple from a Google search, the accused reached the town on August 14 night. They broke into the temple at around 3 am and fled after 3.40 am, stealing 3.6 kg of silver. The accused also vandalized the idols. The police have lodged an FIR under Sections 331 (4), 305 and 299 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). After solving the case, the police have added Sections 61 (2) and 317 (2) of BNS in the FIR,” the SSP said.
During questioning, the accused confessed to stealing at least 8 kg of silver from two temples in Bengaluru. In 2018, the gang had targeted Mansa Devi Complex in Panchkula, a police official added, pleading anonymity.
The SSP said that the blood samples of the accused have been matched with the blood found from the temple. “The police have also found their fingerprints in the temple besides the CCTV footage in which the accused were recorded. The police also found bank transactions between the jeweller and the accused,” the SSP said.
