BANGALORE: A day after the Rs 25-lakh heist at a Jain temple came to light, police analyzing CCTV footage from 10 cameras concluded that only two men were the culprits.
The thieves had drugged and rendered unconscious five security guards before they decamped with gold ornaments and cash from seven hundis and a safe at the Sri Vasupoojya Swami Jain Swetambar Moorti Poojak Sangh temple in Akkipet, Chickpet, late Saturday night.
After a preliminary investigation, police had said a group of four or five persons pulled off the heist.
The thieves had destroyed six of the 16 CCTV cameras in the temple. Senior officers said though the burglars knew about all these cameras, they could find and destroy only six. “Though the two men had covered their faces, some footage revealed their features. We have some details like possible ethnicity and physical features,” said an officer.
Although the case is being investigated by the jurisdictional Cottonpet police, an officer of the Central Crime Branch will assist in the investigation, sources told TOI.
The security guards are undergoing treatment at Victoria Hospital. Police said that all of them — Nagveer Bahadur, Lal Bahadur, Jungveer Bahadur, Pramesh Bahadur and Prakash Bahadur — have been working with the temple for many years.
While Nagveer joined when the temple was established 20 years ago, Lal Bahadur has been there for the past decade. Jungveer, Paramesh and Prakash have been working there for a couple of years. All of them are from Nepal.
‘Sedation claim suspect’
Sources said investigators are still not convinced by the security guards’ statements on how they were sedated.
“According to their statements, all of them fell dizzy at the same time. Generally, each person has a different threshold to poisoning. Even when they were feeling dizzy, they didn’t make any attempt to contact anyone. The priest told us that when he reached the temple on Sunday morning, one guard was awake and walking down the stairs from the first floor. Why didn’t he alert anyone before the priest saw him? We have reason not to believe their statements and questioning them,” senior officer said.
