Caught on camera: Man steals from donation box in Delhi church, held

Police said the accused has been identified as Pawan Kumar Chouhan, a resident of Ghaziabad’s Vasundhara.

“The incident came to light on Wednesday when the complainant, Christinal Billygraham, the manager at the church, and her husband noticed suspicious activity on the CCTV cameras,” a senior police officer said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) B K Singh said, “On January 3, a prayer programme was underway at the church. Chouhan took the money and was trying to leave the church premises when he was nabbed. The stolen money was also recovered from his possession.”

Billygraham told The Indian Express that they reinstalled their CCTV cameras after they received several complaints of thefts from the donation box.

“We couldn’t identify the culprits as the cameras were not working. So we reinstalled all the cameras a fortnight ago. On Wednesday, I was monitoring the cameras when I spotted a man standing near the donation box and acting suspiciously,” she said.

She immediately called the director, Sandeep Behra, and informed him about the incident.

“We both watched the footage. The man was holding the Bible in front of the donation box while trying to pick the lock. He seemed nervous and kept looking behind every two seconds. He managed to open the lock, took some cash and left the spot,” the manager said.

They caught the accused and informed police.

“Local police, under the supervision of Station House Officer (North Avenue) Gyanendra Rana, went to the spot. Initially, the accused tried to mislead investigators but confessed after sustained questioning. He told police that he committed thefts twice at Jesus Calls church, another church nearby and at a temple. He claimed he posed as a devotee in order to gain access to religious places and commit thefts,” an officer said.