Thieves kill guard of Jain temple in Bhuj, flee with cash

Rajkot: Barely hours before chief minister Vijay Rupani’s visit to Bhuj, robbers murdered a security guard of a Jain derasar and broke the donation boxes, cash and ornaments.

The crime at derasar, which is located in the heart of Bhuj town, has sparked anger among the community.

The incident came to light at around 5am on Friday when a devotee Prabhubhai went to offer prayers at the temple. He found the security guard Bhupat Jethi dead and ornaments missing from the idols. Prabhubhai immediately informed the temple’s trustees and police.

Kamalnayan Mehta, 62, a temple administrator, lodged a complaint of murder and theft against unidentified persons.

The thieves, who are believed to have struck after Thursday midnight, broke three donation boxes and took away Rs 10,000 cash besides the ornamental chains.

“There are CCTV cameras installed at the derasar and we will access it to get the clue about the miscreants. It seems there may be more than two persons involved in the crime,’’ said M J Boxa, police inspector, B-division police, Bhuj.

Police sources said that they were engaged in chief minister’s security on Friday in Bhuj and were yet to get the CCTV footages from the temple.

Jain community members told media persons that if required, they would carry out protest rally.

“Killing of the security guard and theft in the temple is a very serious issue. We will talk to our community members to decide future course of action to protest against such ghastly crime,” Bharat Mehta, a Jain community members, told reporters.