Two held for stealing Rs 3-lakh silver artefact from temple

Mumbai: The NRI Sagari police recently arrested two persons who allegedly stole a silver artefact worth Rs 3.19 lakh from a temple in Navi Mumbai.

One of the arrested accused, Kaniklal Jaiswal (29), an auto rickshaw driver from Navi Mumbai, had allegedly taken the help of his friend, Shankar Kapse (26), from Nashik to carry out the theft. The theft was carried out on November 10, 2016. The police recovered the artefact from Kapse’s house. Jaiswal used to loiter around the temple and therefore came under the police scanner.

According to a police source, the two accused had stolen the artefact from a temple in Navi Mumbai. The accused duo entered the temple premises by breaking a lock. The Navi Mumbai police while investigating the case became suspicious of Jaiswal as he used to loiter around the temple. The police subsequently started keeping an eye on Jaiswal. On January 6, Jaiswal and Kapse were arrested from Navi Mumbai, near Balaji Mandir, after the police saw some suspicious activity involving the duo.

After questioning, the main accused Jaiswal allegedly confessed to the crime. The police source added, “The police’s suspicion grew strong when it found out that the other accused Kapse had visited the city without any solid reason.” When The Asian Age spoke to senior police inspector Shekhar Bagade of NRI Sagar police station, he said, “We arrested the accused duo on January 6 and they will be remanded in police custody till January 18.”

The NRI Sagri police has booked the two accused under sections 454, 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 380  (theft in dwelling house) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code for trespassing and theft respectively.