Close to three months after the theft of three crowns from the temple of Sri Govinda Raja Swamy in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati town, the police have finally cracked the case. The three crowns which were stolen, weighed approximately 1,351 gm and were valued at around Rs 50 lakh.
While the police had arrested the accused, identified as Akash, earlier this month, they only managed to recover the gold this week. Investigation officials said that the accused had melted the crowns and was looking to sell the gold, when he was arrested.
The police said that the accused was a native of Nanded in Maharashtra. Along with the melted gold, an iPhone was also recovered from the accused.
Three ancient crowns (1351grms') worth Rs 42.35 lakhs of #Tirupati temple were recovered in melted state following arrest of an accused Akash Prakash in Nanded of Maharashtra. He allegedly tried 2 sell in Renigunta,Kachiguda and Maharashtra.#ttdcrowns #Andhra pic.twitter.com/pIVQkWqoV2
— CharanTeja (@CharanT16) April 23, 2019
Addressing reporters in Tirupati, Superintendent of Police Anbhurajan said that several special teams had worked to crack the case over the last 80 days. The accused's movements were first recorded in CCTV cameras within the premises of the temple itself, and later at the Tirupati railway station, police said.
The SP added that they have found clues in Telangana's Nizamabad railway station following which they chalked out a plan, estimating all possible railway stations from where the accused could have fled.
The senior cop also said that they broadcasted an alert bulletin in the local media in Nanded (Maharashtra) which also helped the police zero down on the accused.
“The accused went absconding from Nanded and travelled to Pune. From there, he came to Renigunta in Andhra by train and our teams kept pursuing him and passing on information,” Anbhurajan said.
The theft which had taken place in the first week of February this year had raised a lot of concern over the security of jewelry and other properties of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).
According to reports, the recovered melted gold will be handed over to TTD officials. Meanwhile, TTD EO Ashok Singhal said that another set of three crowns would be arranged for the deity of Govindaraja Temple.