Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 20: Police personnel of Vivekanagara station in the city have succeeded in solving the theft case in which gold ornaments had been stolen from Jain Mandir at Bharathinagara here. They have recovered the stolen items. One of the burglars was the worker of the Mandir, who successfully feigned innocence in the early stages of investigation.

The people arrested in this case are Bharat Sharma (34), Harajiram (23), Sharavan Singh (25), Eshwar Lal (26), and Praveen Kumar (27) all from Rajasthan. Sharavan Singh works for the Mandir while the others used to visit the temple occasionally. Jeetender alias Lalit from Mumbai, who is believed to be the mastermind behind this theft, has so far succeeded in avoiding arrest.

The cops have found out that the accused had prepared for this theft since a month. Sharavan Singh has been engaged in the work of fitting tiles to the Mandir since the last two years. The idea of stealing jewellery and valuables from the Mandir got deep-rooted in his mind during this period. He explained about his plan to his close friend from his native place, Harajiram, and enticed him to come to the city to be his partner in crime. As per their initial plan, Sharavan Singh stole keys of the temple and got duplicates done. Harajiram then went to Rajasthan and came back along with his other accomplices on April 14. At around 2 am on April 17, they entered the temple, stole the ornaments, and escaped to Rajasthan, explained deputy commissioner of police (central), Dr Chandragupta, addressing a press conference here on Monday June 19.

It is learnt that the accused had gone back to Rajasthan after committing burglary. They were trying to sell off the ornaments to jewellery stores in Mumbai. Sharavan Singh, who remained in the city, continued with his routine, as if he had not done anything. The police did not have any suspicion on Sharavan initially, but they noticed that after sometime, Sharavan went back to Rajasthan on leave and then did not evince any interest to come back and resume his work for long. The police therefore kept a close watch on his movements. They observed that Sharavan, who came back later, was speaking to a stranger in a suspicious manner near BDA Complex in the city. When he was taken to police station and questioned, he revealed about the series of incidents leading up to the theft, officials explained.

After Sharavan stole the keys, the Mandir officials noted about the missing keys. Sharavan too joined the other temple functionaries in searching for the keys. On the next day, he succeeded in convincing them that the key was found lying inside a heap of tiles inside the temple. By then he already had procured duplicate keys. Sharavan had the fear that the police might suspect his role in the theft. Therefore, he always stayed in the temple. After returning from Rajasthan visit, he had sought some loan from the temple management, telling him that his marriage had been fixed. The management of the temple had also lent Rs 30,000 to him, it is learnt.