Kochi: Two Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in connection with theft of traditional brass lamps and vessels worth '3 lakh from the Maradu Pandavath Siva Temple last Saturday. The arrested were identified as Aslam Khan (31) and Joel (18). The cops recovered all stolen items from the duo.
According to police, what led to arrest of the culprits is a probe based on the CCTV footages of certain shops located near the temple. “We checked the CCTV footages of the intervening night and zeroed in on the suspects. We managed to arrest Aslam on Thursday night and recovered ‘thazhikakudam’ from him,” police said.
Aslam Khan
Upon interrogation, the accused revealed that the stolen items were concealed in a pit dug out at the premise of their rented house at Kaniampuzha. The cops recovered some of the stolen items from there and the remaining from a godown in Pathaikulam.
“Both of them were staying illegally here and have no valid documents. They were engaged in rag picking and had observed the temple well. The duo learned that costly materials were shifted to the office room since renovation work of the temple was going on and committed the burglary around 1.30 am,” they said.
The theft at the temple managed by the Cochin Devaswom Board was committed on the wee hours of March 5. It was first detected by a woman engaged in cleaning the temple premises at 3 am when she noticed doors of the office room and the almarah inside damaged and wide open.
The temple management had placed all inventories in the office room since renovation works were underway. Valuable articles like ‘Panchaloha idol’ however, were found in tact.
