Gang stealing from temples busted, three caught

Vadodara: Three members of a burglar gang involved in at least 22 offences, including temple thefts, were caught near Golden Chowkdi on the national highway near the city on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) nabbed three people from the Meda gang, who committed thefts and burglaries in the city's Bhayli, Tarsali, Makarpura, and Lalbaug areas of Vadodara, Karjan, Varnama, Rajkot, and Bharuch.
The arrested persons, Umesh Meda, Ajay Meda, and Govind Machaar, all residents of Dahod, specialised in temple thefts, police said. They confessed to breaking into three temples. "We intercepted the accused on their way to Surat. They couldn't give a satisfactory reply regarding the ornaments, cash, and other valuables found in their possession," said HA Rathod, ACP (crime). The police seized cash and valuables worth over Rs five lakhs from them.
In all, they broke into nine temples in the region. "They confessed to targeting temples as house break-ins were risky if the family members woke up and confronted them," Rathod said.
During the daytime, the gang conducted recces in the temples, mostly located on the main roads or near the highways. The police said that the gang felt it was convenient to steal cash from the donation boxes as they would get a lot of cash. "They used to steal motorbikes and use them in committing the burglaries. After committing the crimes, they parked the bikes in the parking lots or in common parking areas," the police said.
Before striking the target, they hung out near railway stations or bus depots to while away their time until late at night. The gang mostly involved their family members in the crimes so that they wouldn't have to share the booty with outsiders.