Tirupati: The Tirupati Urban District Police has finally made a breakthrough in the two-month-long crowns theft case and arrested a man in Mumbai on Monday.
It may be recalled that on February 2, three golden crowns weighing 1,351 grams and worth approximately Rs 50 lakh were stolen in broad daylight from the Govindaraja Swamy temple in Tirupati. The theft rocked the TTD which administered the temple.
Police launched a hunt across the country to nab the burglars.
On Monday, the Mumbai police took Akash Pratap Sarode, a native of Nanded district in Maharashtra, into custody at Dadar police station in Mumbai. Sarode has confessed to having committed the crime. He has also confessed that he had pledged the three stolen crowns for Rs 3 lakh to a local jeweller, who was also taken into custody by the police, the police officer said.
Sarode has been taken to Tirupati for further questioning while the police are trying to retrieve the crowns.
The police are also trying to find out if Sarode had any local support to carry out the theft.
