19-year-old arrested for stealing cash from temple donation box in Maharashtra

Mumbai: A 19-year-old youth was arrested by the Kandivli Police for breaking open the donation box of a temple in Kandivli West and stealing cash. With the arrest of the accused, Arman Shaikh, the police solved two other offences of theft — one in a wine shop in Andheri and another at a temple in Borivli.

The latest incident was reported at a Ganesh temple in Kandivli on the intervening night of May 13 and 14. The temple authorities found that the donation box was smashed and a sum of Rs 60,000 was stolen. An FIR was registered by the Kandivli Police. Investigators went through footage from cameras in the vicinity. They found that two individuals were involved in the theft and they travelled to Kandivli by train from Naigaon. After a thorough investigation, Shaikh was nabbed from the Ekta Nagar creek area.

Shaikh has a prior history of four offences, including thefts in other temples, motorcycle theft and a case of child sexual abuse.

Police said he lives in Rathodi village in Malwani. The arrest was made by a police team supervised by DCP Sandip Ghuge and senior inspector Karan Sonkavde.