Teen arrested for stealing Rs 60,000 from temple donation box in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A 19-year-old youth was arrested by the Kandivali Police for breaking open the donation box of a temple in Kandivali 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 Borivali.

The latest incident was reported at a Ganesh temple in Kandivali in the intervening night between May 13 and 14. The temple authorities found that the donation box was smashed and a sum of Rs 60,000 had been stolen.

An FIR was registered by the Kandivali Police. Investigators went through footage from cameras in the vicinity. They found that two individuals were involved in the theft and they had travelled to Kandivali by train from Naigaon. After a thorough investigation, Shaikh was nabbed from 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 at Rathodi village in Malwani. The arrest was made by a police team supervised by DCP Sandip Ghuge and senior inspector Karan Sonkavde.