Four acquitted of theft at temple in Sec 37

Chandigarh, January 12

A local court today acquitted four persons in a case of theft after the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

The court acquitted Ved Ram, Kulwant Singh, Ranjit Singh and Munna Lal in a seven-year-old case.

As per the prosecution, the four accused had decamped with gold and silver ornaments, worth about Rs 15 lakh, after assaulting two watchmen at a temple in Sector 37.

The police had said the four had scaled the boundary wall of the temple and hit Vikram Singh, a watchman, on the head with an iron rod and gagged the other before committing the robbery at pistol point.

As per the police complaint lodged by the watchmen, the robbers came at around 2 am. Ornaments worth Rs 15 lakh and Rs 7,000 were stolen after breaking open the cash boxes. They also took away silver canopies installed on idols. Besides, they took away gold jewellery and a silver snake weighing around 3 kg.

The defence counsel stated to the court that there were numerous contradictions in the prosecution theory and none of the watchmen came to the court to record a statement against the accused resulting in the acquittal. — TNS