Odisha man involved in 40 temple theft cases arrested

In a significant breakthrough, a notorious thief with over 40 cases of thefts from temples was arrested by the police from the Nayagarh district of Odisha on Saturday.

The accused identified as Ghanashyam Das, was arrested following a complaint of theft from the Kanakya Parameswari Temple in the Jeypore area of Odisha, on the night of February 3rd this year. As per reports, temple authorities had filed a case that 12 grams of gold ornaments, 312 grams of silverware along with Rs 21,000 cash, cumulatively amounting to Rs 3 lakhs, was looted along with the temple CCTV hard drive.

In a press meet, Jeypore SDPO, Ankit Verma stated that Ghanashaym Das aka Prakash Kumar Sahu aka Santosh Kumar Das was arrested from his hometown at Itamati in Nayagarh district. 

With the arrest, the police could recover only the silverware and Rs 2 lakh cash from him. No gold or CCTV DVR box could be recovered, informed sources. 

Despite the unavailability of the CCTV footage of the temple, the Jeypore Police still nabbed the thief after scouting CCTV footages from the locality.  

According to sources, the temple authorities were handed over the silverware recovered from the accused. 

From the investigation, it was found that he is a serial offender and has over 40 cases of theft from temples registered against him, informed police sources. It was revealed that he started stealing from temples at the age of 18 and his first theft was at Viajayawada’s famous Kanak Durga temple.

According to police sources, the accused used to operate alone and more details could emerge from further investigation.