On September 2, the silver Charan Paduka was reported stolen from the Shree Swami Samarth temple. Authorities are currently investigating the incident to identify the accused and recover the stolen item.
NAVI MUMBAI: The Khalapur police probing the theft case wherein a masked man had decamped with a pair of silver toe-knob sandals (Charan Paduka) representing divine footprints offered at Shree Swami Samarth temple in Khalapur city on September 2, have arrested the acccused thief and his aide by tracking them to Pune on Monday. Pradeep Rayannavar, senior inspector of Khalapur informed that, the arrested accused are Mahendrasingh Rathod, 45, who hails from Rajasthan and Ravi Soni, 32, who hails from UP and is a history-sheeter as a theft case is registered against him in Pune.
He further said, “However, using technical expertise, intelligence inputs and footages of CCTV camera along the highways, the thieves on bike were tracked and apprehended from Chikhali in Pune district. “Considering the religious sentiments of the devotees, Raigad SP forms a special police team to detect the case at the earliest. Subsequently, the CCTV footage along the escape route of the thieves were scanned. The bike used in the crime did not have a registration number plate,” Rayannavar added. We have seized from them the stolen Padukas and the bike used in the crime.
On Monday, the acccused were produced before the Khalapur JMFC court that remanded them to police custody till Friday.”