A gang of thieves who had broken into a jain temple in Modi Nagar and were on the run, finally ran of luck when a team of Ghaziabad police arrested them. The arrest of the four-member gang led to the recovery of two precious ashtha dhatu idols of lord Mahavir and Parswanath along with a sliver brick that was made after melting the two stolen umbrellas. These idols and the precious metals were stolen by the gang from the Jain temple Modi Nagar on February 22, 2015. The recovery is valued over Rs1 crore.
The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dharmedra Yadav, said that the staff of Modi Nagar police noticed some persons allegedly indulged in some suspicious activities near Kadrabad area. They were confronted by the police and were brought to the police station when they failed to give satisfactory answers.
On further questioning, they confessed to have committed the theft of two idols of lord Mahavir and Parswanath and two umbrellas that were put over the idols. They escaped to Aligarh where they reportedly melted the umbrellas and converted them into a silver brick. They were looking for buyers, the SSP added.
The police further recovered a swift car bearing a registration number UP 81 AZ 4970, four pistols of .32 and .315 calibre along with live and used cartridges. They confessed to have carried out criminal activities in other States too. They had carried out a burglary of Rs10 lakh in Patiala (Punjab) and stole Rs16 lakh from an ATM of the State Bank of India in Agra.
They have been identified as Pushpendra, Harendra (both brothers) Surjeet and Mohit. All the accused were the residents of Aligarh district. They were produced before the concerned court and have been sent to judicial custody.