MARCEL, APRIL 22
Ponda police arrested four non-Goans in connection with the recent temple theft case reported at Shree Gajant Laxmi Temple, Marcel.
Ponda police have identified the accused as Suresh Bhandari, Prakash Gosavi (both from Antruz Nagar-Ponda and natives of Davangiri and Dharwad, Karnataka), Ramu Gosavi and jeweller Sunil Mahabaleshwar.
Police informed that Suresh and Prakash were arrested two days ago and have been remanded to eight days police custody, while Ramu and Sunil were arrested on Wednesday at Dharwad and remanded to six days police custody.
“Our LIB (local investigation branch) team did a tremendous job in solving the temple theft case. First, Suresh Bhandari was detained, who spilled the beans. Soon we arrested his associate Prakash Gosavi,” said PI Manoj Mardolkar.
“After interrogation, we came to know that they had sold the stolen items from Shree Gajant Laxmi Temple, Marcel, to a jeweler at Dharwad. Jeweller Sunil Mahabaleshwar was arrested in Dharwad with the help of Dharwad police and recovered most of the stolen items amounting to Rs 1.30 lakh,” added PI Mardolkar.
“Another associate Ramu Gosavi was also arrested in Dharwad,” said PI Mardolkar.
“We recovered two silver elephants, two silver idols, three silver umbrellas, one prabhawal, one silver plate and a silver glass from the jewellery shop. The market rate of these items is about Rs 1.30 lakh,” informed PI Mardolkar.
According to the complaint filed by the temple president, the price of the stolen items from the temple was Rs 2.47 lakh.
