Duo held on charge of stealing silver crown from temple in Talegaon Dabhade

Pune: The Talegaon Dabhade police on Saturday arrested two men in connection with the theft of a 1.3kg silver crown from an idol in a temple at Jijamata Chowk, two weeks after the crime took place place on May 23.

A police team led by senior police inspector Kanhaiyya Thorat checked over 80 CCTV footage recordings and tracked down the duo — Ravi Soni (34) and Ramesh Soni (36) — to Uttar Pradesh. The police have recovered the stolen crown, worth over Rs2 lakh, from them.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Shweta Khedkar said that the duo stole the crown from the temple by diverting the priest’s attention. The police initially had no clues about the thieves.

“The team checked footage from 80 CCTV cameras. With the help of technical investigation, they tracked the duo to UP. We have recovered the stolen crown,” she confirmed.

While Ravi was staying in Chikhali’s Kudalwadi locality here, Ramesh resided in Hinjewadi’ Bodkewadi neighbourhood.

“We are investigating whether the duo was involved in any other thefts,” an officer from the Talegaon Dabhade police said.