PATNA: In a rare achievement, Siwan police on Thursday arrested two youths and recovered all the stolen ornaments worth around of Rs 4 lakh on their indication within four hours of a theft coming to light at the Hanuman temple which was inaugurated by then Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam along with CM Nitish Kumar around 14 years back.
The temple is located at Shukla Toli under the Town police station area of the Siwan district.
The theft came to light at around 4.30am on Thursday when the head priest and a few other staff reached there to start routine affairs but found locks on an iron gate and a shutter at the back of the temple building broken.
Temple management administrator Shambhu Dutt Shukla, an advocate, said the priest found the crown and shield of Lord Hanuman stolen.
“Both were of silver weighing around 4.5kilograms. They were worth more than Rs 4 lakh. They immediately informed me,” he said.
Shukla said that he soon rushed Town police station to inform about the theft without engaging in any other daily chores.
“The SHO reached there in his sleeping dress who swung into action without evening changing,” he said.
Shukla said that then Mauritius PM along with CM Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the renovated building of the temple more than 14 years back.
“The temple was originally built by our grandfather in 1901. The then Mauritius PM is our younger brother Ganesh Dutt Shukla’s disciple,” he said.
Town police station SHO Jaiprakash Pandit said that police soon detained some youths on basis of Shukla’s suspicion.
“One of the detained youths Rohit Kumar broke down during quizzing and confessed to have passed on information to his associates for committing the theft,” he said.
Pandit said on Rohit’s confession, police arrested another youth Pankaj Kumar from Nirala Nagar in the town area.
“He confessed to have passed on the stolen ornaments to two others associates. The entire stolen valuables were finally recovered buried in ground near Malwalia canal under Rampur Hatt police station area of Siwan. All recovery was made within four hours of theft coming to light,” he said.
SHO Pandit said Rohit used to visit his maternal uncle’s residence located just behind the temple and thus hatched a conspiracy to steal the ornaments with his associates.
“Both arrested youths are aged around 21 years. Police are searching if they have any criminal antecedents or not,” Pandit said.
SHO said altogether four youths were involved in theft and raids were on to arrest rest two.