Less than 72 hours after they broke into a Jain temple located in the Versova area and fled with cash amounting to approximately Rs.50,000, the Kashimira police arrested three thieves from Bhiwandi, Malwani and Wadala in Mumbai.
The accused turned out to be members of a professional gang who moved around in a car and mainly targeted temples in and around the region. Notably, the crime detection team led by API-Prashant Gangurde under the supervision of PI (crime)-Vijay Pawar, Senior Police Inspector- Sanjay Hazare and ACP- Vilas Sanap solved the blind case by scanning more than 50 hours of footage captured by nearly 110 Close Circuit Tele-Vision (CCTV) cameras on the highway from Kashimira to Bhiwandi via Vasai.
The action followed in response to a complaint filed by the temple caretaker that unidentified miscreants had broken into the temple on Monday and decamped with cash amounting to Rs.50,000 by breaking open the donation box. The police started scanning CCTV camera footage and spotted a suspicious-looking car on one of the getaway routes.
“Nearly 110 cameras were scanned and our team got hold of a clear frame of the car's registration number captured by the CCTV camera in Bhiwandi. However, the lead led to a dead end as the car was sold 10 years ago. The scanning continued and the team noticed an occupant getting down. The team tracked Samsuddha Qureshi from the Khadipar area which led to the arrest of his accomplices-Syed Khan and Imran Shaikh from Malad and Wadala respectively.” said Hazare.
The trio turned out to be notorious temple thieves who confessed to their involvement in a series of similar crimes in Kashimira, Virar and Valiv. They have been remanded to custody as further investigations were in progress, police said.
