5 temple theft cases cracked, 3 held

CHANDIGARH: The police claim to have solved five temple theft cases in the city and Panchkula that took place this year with the arrest of three persons. Rehsam Singh, alias Rinku (24), of Uttarakhand, and Harjeet Singh, alias Jeet (30), and Manbeer Singh, alias Dimple (28), both from Meerut in UP, were arrested from Delhi with the help of the Delhi Police.

SSP Nilambari Jagadale Vijay (centre) briefs the media about the thieves arrested for thefts in temples in Chandigarh, on Wednesday. Photo: Manoj Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18

The police claim to have solved five temple theft cases in the city and Panchkula that took place this year with the arrest of three persons. Rehsam Singh, alias Rinku (24), of Uttarakhand, and Harjeet Singh, alias Jeet (30), and Manbeer Singh, alias Dimple (28), both from Meerut in UP, were arrested from Delhi with the help of the Delhi Police.

The three were produced in a court on Wednesday, which sent them to five-day police remand. Three or four accused in the case are yet to be arrested.

The five cases that the police claim the accused have confessed to be a part of are the January 8 theft at a temple in Sector 24, the February 19 theft at the Saketri temple, the March 22 theft at Sector 16 and two thefts at Sector 27 on April 11. The theft that the police claim the accused have not confessed to was the one that took place at the Sector 19 temple on April 10.

According to the police, it is a professional gang and members have a criminal record. The cases against them were in Delhi and nearby areas and hence they chose the city as they had no record here. The CCTV footage of the day was compared with that of the past few days through which they ascertained the men who were doing a recce and then got their photographs developed. The photographs were shared with the police of Mohali, Panchkula, Patiala and Delhi. After getting leads from Delhi, the three were arrested from the Wazidpur area. The police recovered silver ornaments, weighing 10 to 12 kg, which were stolen from the Sector 27 temple.

The main accused in the case is Harjeet, who has a criminal record in UP and is said to be the one who planned the crime. Manbeer, who used to play tabla in a gurdwara in Faridabad, was booked for a theft at the same gurdwara. They came to Chandigarh just two days before the theft and fled immediately after. According to SSP Nilambari Jagadale, they stayed in cheap hotels and guest houses and travelled in private buses.

While Rehsam is a graduate and has worked in Malaysia in the past, Manbeer has studied till Class VIII and Harjeet till Class V. The three have over 25 cases registered against them.