Bhopal: Greenhorn foxes gray-haired cops, steals away money from donation box to meet girlfriend's demands

BHOPAL: A greenhorn has left the police department flummoxed by stealing money from a donation box of a temple on police station premises in Shahpura area in Bhopal to meet the demands of his girlfriend.

Shahpura SHO Mahendra Mishra has been served show cause notice over the incident. To do recee, the boy would regularly visit the temple on the police station premises on pretext of performing puja.

Shahpura police went through footage of nearly 30-35 CCTV cameras installed in the area and zeroed in on a 17-year-old boy. The boy was detained and the cops recovered Rs 1,850 cash, some tools and a temple bell from his possession. Police also seized his bike used in the crime.

According to police reports, a class 10^th student of a private school made away with cash from the Hanuman temple donation-box to meet his girlfriend’s demands.

The boy told police that though he worked at his father’s shop, his pocket money was not enough to manage the expenses of his girlfriend, who lives in the neighbourhood. To meet her demands, the teenager started to steal.

On February 15, the priest after performing puja left, leaving the temple unlocked. The teenager, seeing nobody on the premises, broke open the donation box kept at the sanctorum and made away with the cash. He, while leaving, also took away the bronze bell.

Police swung into action after the CCTV camera footage of the theft went viral on social media. Police scanned nearly 30-35 CCTVs cameras’ footage to identify the culprit.

The boy told police that he used to do recce of the temples on the pretext of offering prayers and then would steal cash from the donation box when there was no one around. The accused confessed to have stolen cash from a donation box at a temple located in Vandana Nagar, Kolar, two days before he targeted the temple of Shahpura police station.