Priest held for Rs 15 lakh gold mangalsutra theft at Navi Mumbai temple

Navi Mumbai: A 22-year-old temple priest was arrested by Nerul police for allegedly committing theft of a gold mangalsutra worth around Rs 15 lakh adorned on the idol of Kamakshi Devi at a temple on the campus of SIES College in Sector 5, Nerul, on Thursday.The theft was detected within two hours after a police complaint was lodged by Ramnath Subramanyam, 54, the trustee of Sri Bhakta Aanjaneya Trust that maintains and manages the Uttara Kamakshi Ambal Temple in Nerul in association with South Indian Education Society (SIES). The complainant claimed that the stolen gold mangalsutra was of South Indian design, weighed around 9-10 grams and was estimated at around Rs 15 lakh.Ajay Kamble, senior inspector of Nerul, informed that the arrested accused priest was identified as Kartik Ramdas Bairagi, who hails from Madhya Pradesh. He was appointed as priest at the temple about three months ago. He used to perform pooja rituals in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, similar to the other three priests. The theft came to light on Tuesday around 5.30 pm, when another priest went into the sanctum sanctorum to perform pooja rituals.

The trustee, Subramanyam, immediately alerted the Nerul police station.Kamble said, "Our police team reached the temple for inquiry. There is no CCTV camera installation inside the sanctum sanctorum, where only the priests are allowed to enter and not the devotees, who have to seek blessings of the deity from outside the sanctum sanctorum. As the theft took place when the devotees were present on the temple premises, the needle of suspicion was on the four priests.

Hence, the priests were questioned by recreating the crime scene.

Since the priest Kartik Bairagi's version of performing routine pooja did not match that of the three other priests as he took a longer duration, he was the prime suspect. As he gave an evasive reply, he was questioned further, when he confessed to having stolen the gold ornament out of greed."Kamble added, "Bairagi led us to his room in the residential quarters for the priests on the college campus, where he had hidden the stolen gold ornament inside the air cooler fan. The accused Bairagi was arrested after registering an FIR for the offence of theft at a place of worship. On June 12, the Belapur JMFC court remanded him to police custody for three days."