Six arrested for burglary at Sankat Mochan priest’s home

Varanasi: In a breakthrough, Varanasi police on Tuesday night arrested six people, injuring three of them in an encounter, in connection with the theft of jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore and Rs 3 lakh cash from the residence of Sankat Mochan temple's chief priest Prof Vishwambhar Nath Mishra on Sunday.Three of the six accused suffered bullet injuries in the exchange of fire with the police during a raid conducted by a joint team of Bhelupur and Ramnagar police, and special operations group (SOG) in Domri area of Varanasi late Tuesday night. One of the accused managed to escape.Police said that all the accused had served at Mahant's home in the past.SOG, surveillance, and 11 police teams were conducting raids to nab the thieves when they located them in Kodopur (Ramnagar) where they had assembled to share the booty.SOG in-charge Manish Mishra, inspectors of Ramnagar and Bhelupur police stations, Raju Singh and Gopal Ji Kushwaha cordoned off the area."Finding themselves surrounded, the criminals opened indiscriminate fire on the police. In retaliatory firing, three of the criminals were injured. Police arrested six of the accused, while one escaped," a police officer said.DCP (crime) and ADCP, Kashi zone, Saravanan T, and ACP, Bhelupur, Ishan Soni reached the spot and a forensic team was called to collect evidence.The DCP said that the injured persons were identified as Vicky Tiwari, Jitendra Singh alias Golu Patel, and Rakesh Dubey, all residents of Kaimur Bhabua (Bihar). The other arrested accused have been identified as Dilip alias Bansi Chaubey of Bhagwanpur (Varanasi), Atul Shukla of Fatehpur district, and Shani of Deoria district.The CCTV footage showed three masked men committing the theft while three others assisting them in the crime.