Three more held in Jain temple theft case, stolen idols recovered

Indore: Three more persons have been arrested in the May 3 Jain temple theft case, taking the total number of arrests to seven till now.

DCP Narendra Rawat said that the three— Lakhan Makwana, 38, and Rambabu Yadav, 30, both of Morod in Indore and Deepak, 29, of Barwaha in Khargone— were arrested after police received information that they were carrying stolen silver items and heading towards Indore via Dhar Road to sell them.

Police said that the trio had been constantly changing locations and hiding in Maharashtra and Telangana to avoid detection. Following sustained surveillance and technical tracking, the team conducted a raid and arrested them.

Earlier, on May 13, police had arrested four accused, including a woman, in the case. Police recovered property worth Rs 4 lakh from them.

Investigators said that information provided by the first set of accused helped them identify and trace the absconding members of the gang.

Police recovered two Ashtadhatu idols and an Ashtadhatu plate weighing around 15 kg, two silver idols, a silver Pandushila, a silver kalash, a silver bowl, two silver plates, four silver pipes weighing around 3 kg, two iron rods used in the crime and a motorcycle.

Investigators said the accused were habitual offenders with criminal records related to theft, robbery and housebreaking registered in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, West Bengal and various districts of Madhya Pradesh.