21-05-2025
Theft at Sankat Mochan temple priest's house; six held during police encounter in Varanasi
LUCKNOW: In a major breakthrough in a theft case at the house of Prof Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, the priest of Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi on Sunday, the police nabbed six miscreants along with stolen bounty including cash and jewellery.
While three miscreants were nabbed during an exchange of fire with a joint team of Bhelupur, Ramnagar police, and SOG in the Ramnagar area late on Tuesday night, the three others surrendered. Those who suffered gunshots in the operation included Rakesh Dubey, Golu Patel and Vicky Tiwari.
All six were all involved in the theft of jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore and cash worth Rs 3 lakhs from the house of Sankat Mochan Temple Mahant. Significantly, all the six had served at the Prof Mishra's house in the past.
The miscreants had assembled to divide the stolen articles among themselves when the police surrounded them on the basis of a tip-off and nabbed them.
As per the police sources, the SOG, surveillance, and 11 police teams were continuously conducting raids in connection with the high profile theft case.
On late Tuesday night, the police team located the criminals in Kodopur (Ramnagar) following which SOG in-charge Manish Mishra, Ramnagar Inspector Raju Singh, and Inspector Bhelupur Gopal Ji Kushwaha started the combing.
When the police raided the location, the criminals, started firing indiscriminately on the police party. In retaliation, the cops injured three criminals and arrested six, while one managed to escape taking the advantage of darkness.
While the injured criminals were sent to the hospital, a search was still on across the district to arrest the absconding miscreant.
