One held for theft of 3 silver lion statues from Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Vijayawada West Zone police have nabbed a thief who stole three silver lions statues belonging to Kanaka Durga temple. The mystery, which has been going on for four months, is over. Authorities found the statues missing in September last year. Taking the case seriously, the police department has deployed three special teams. After a multi-pronged investigation, the teams finally came to the conclusion that it was Jakkamshetty Sai Baba, 52, an old criminal from East Godavari district who stole the idols. Based on them, Jakkamshetty was arrested and interrogated where he confessed the theft. He told police that he had sold them to a gold trader in Tuni, East Godavari district.

The city police commissioner, who took the theft case seriously, has launched an investigation led by the West Zone ACP. At first the staff working in the temple were interrogated including labourers from other states who were working for temple development works at the time. The police were investigating old criminals who were committing such thefts and collected technical evidence such as their movements, phone ‌call data as well as tower location. Jakkamshetty Sai Baba, an old convict from East Godavari district, was found to be near Durga temple at the time of the theft.

A special team was immediately sent to East Godavari district to arrest Sai Baba and moved him to Vijayawada. Sai Baba admitted theft himself during interrogation, a senior police official said. He said the silver statues were sold to a gold trader in Tuni in East Godavari district and it was learnt that the trader had melted them down and the trader was also arrested. There are more than 100 cases against Sai Baba so far. Most of these cases are related to temples.

Police officials, who breathed in sigh of relief after the accused was found. As part of the investigation, the accused Sai Baba will be taken to the scene for reconstruction of theft in order to find out the nature of the theft.