Mumbai: The Maharashtra police on Monday arrested a 53-year-old man for allegedly disguising himself as a Jain priest and stealing a gold plate from a Jain temple in the Dindoshi area. The accused has been identified as Bharat Sukhraj Doshi, a resident of Ramachandra of Malad. He revealed that he was inspired by a television series 'Crime Patrol' and planned the robbery, Dindoshi police officer Dhananjay Kawade said. A gold plate weighing 160 grams and a scooter were seized from the accused. The total value of the recovered material is approximately Rs 5.3 lakhs, Kawade said.
According to the Dindoshi police officer, the accused used to visit temples every day in disguise and steal goods wherever he got a chance. On January 23, the Dindoshi police received a complaint from Jain priest Dhiraj Lal Shah that he had gone to the temple in the morning with 160 grams of gold plate and for worship and his plate and gold plate had gone missing. In connection with this case, a team led by Senior Police Sub-Inspector Jeevan Kharat of Dindoshi Police Station was formed.
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The police jointly searched the area around the temple and examined the CCTV footage to identify the accused. It was revealed from the CCTV footage that the accused entered the Jain temple on the pretext of worshipping and committed the robbery. Earlier, two thieves were seen fleeing with bags filled with cash and gold jewellery from a wedding venue in Navsari.
The entire incident was recorded on CCTV cameras installed at the venue. The wedding of the Mali family was conducted at BR Farm. The women at the wedding went on to the dais to take photographs at 11:55 am and exactly after five minutes, that is at 12 pm thieves stole a bag. According to the family, the bag contained Rs 3 lakhs of cash and gold jewellery. However, no complaint has been lodged with the police regarding the theft.
