Gang of thieves, who targeted temples on way back from court hearing in other cases, busted in Vadodara

The recce included inserting a coin in the donation box and carefully listening to the sound it would make to estimate how full or empty the box was. Since October 2024, the gang had allegedly carried out 22 such thefts at unguarded temples across the state.

On Thursday, luck ran out for three of the gang members who were arrested by the Vadodara City Crime Branch.

The accused, all in their 20s, were on their way back from a temple theft when the police nabbed them at Golden Chokdi in Vadodara and arrested them, recovering stolen items worth around Rs 5 lakh.

The accused, identified as Umesh Meda (25), Govind Machhar (23) and Ajay Meda (23), were nabbed based on a tip-off that a gang was travelling with the booty from a temple robbery in Dahod towards Surat. All three are residents of Garbada in Dahod district.
Vadodara Police said the accused had “turned to temple thefts after spending several months in prison for house break-ins”.

The Vadodara Crime Branch said in a statement, “The men were apprehensive that breaking into homes at night had a risk of the occupants waking up and sounding an alarm. Since they had already been sent to jail for house break-ins in the past, they decided to target unguarded temples at night.” It further stated, “They would conduct a meticulous recce of the temples during the day and even drop coins into the donation boxes to hear the sound of the falling coin to gauge their fullness. Once they were sure that the boxes were sufficiently full of cash and coins, they would commit the theft at night.”

Police said the gang committed the temple thefts on days they had to visit different cities to attend court hearings in previous cases of crime against them. “They would attend the court hearing and commit the theft on their way back… They first committed theft of motorcycles and conducted a recce of the temples using the stolen two-wheeler before breaking into the temple at night. They were more interested in donation boxes than idols and jewellery as it gave direct access to money without the stress of having to sell the jewellery and other items.”

The accused, the Crime Branch added, were also “careful and guarded” about who they would let into their gang. “They restricted the gang to family members and close relatives. They did not want to involve other people in the crime as it would pose a risk of being detected. They also parked the two-wheelers away from the temples they targeted and covered a sufficient distance on foot, to be able to escape in case they were caught. The time between the recce during the day and the theft at night would be spent at railway stations, bus stops or in parks, committing minor thefts.”

Of the arrested accused, Ajay has four cases of theft against him in Bharuch city and Surat Rural while Umesh has six cases in Bharuch city, Surat Rural, Dahod and Gandhinagar. The third accused, Govind, has three cases lodged in Surat, Gandhinagar and Dahod districts.

The police recovered three motorcycles along with seven mobile phones and cloth bags with currency notes and coins as well as idols of deities, jewellery and various metal items from the possession of the accused.
The motorcycles had allegedly been stolen from Karjan and Bharuch while cash, idols and jewellery recovered from the accused were from six local temples in Vadodara city and district areas, police said.