Bhopal: Joint team of Talaiya police and the Crime branch on Wednesday arrested the thief, who stole the top part of metal dome installed on the minaret of 160-year-old Moti Masjid around 20 days back.
The accused was arrested from his native town in Bihar near Nepal border. Cops said, he had disposed the stolen part in a nullah near Central Library and fled to Bihar. It was recovered by police with the help of Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) team.
DCP (Zone-3) Riyaz Iqbal said that police received information on October 6 that a part of the metal dome was stolen by unidentified accused.Police formed separate teams of Talaiya police, Kotwali police and crime branch to investigate the sensitive matter.
There are CCTV cameras installed at the mosque but the accused was not captured in them. Police scanned the footage of private CCTV cameras fitted in the area and found a clear picture of the suspect carrying a sack in which a heavy object matching with the stolen part of the metal dome was wrapped. Police worked on the footage and shared it on social media platforms. A local shopkeeper identified the accused as Anzar, 19, son of Sohail Akhtar, a resident of Islampura, said DCP.
A police team was sent to Bihar on Dhanteras, which detained him and brought to Bhopal. Anzar told police that he had disposed the stolen metal part in the nullah near Central Library after which police teams recovered it with the help of BMC teams. The accused revealed that he was informed that the dome of Moti Masjid was made of gold so he stole it. But when the information of the incident was widely shared on social media and police started searching for the accused, he fled to Bihar.