Four arrested, two stolen statues recovered

Four people have been arrested and two precious statues of Mahavir and Parswanath, valued at over Rs.1 crore, which were stolen from a Jain temple here in February have been recovered, police said on Wednesday.

The statues made of ashtha-dhatu (eight metals) and a silver brick were stolen from the temple in Modi Nagar on February 22.

The four arrested people were identified as brothers Pushpendra and Harendra, Surjeet and Mohit -- all residents of Aligarh.

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Yadav said in a press conference that police on Tuesday noticed four suspicious people and took them to a police station where, during interrogation, they revealed that they had stolen the statues and two umbrellas over them made of silver.

After the theft, they took the items to Aligarh and melted the umbrellas into a silver brick. They were also looking for potential buyers.

Police also recovered a car, and four pistols along with cartridges.

They confessed to the crime and told police they had earlier committed a burglary of Rs.10 lakh in Patiala in Punjab and also stole Rs.16 lakh from an ATM of the State Bank of India in Agra.

The four were later produced before a court which sent them to judicial custody.