Madhotal police have nabbed one of the four accused involved in stealing two idols and three donation boxes from Shanti Nath Digambar Jain Mandir. The arrested has been identified as Santosh Kewat (18), son of Bhura Lal Kewat, a resident of Khajri Pangudi village in Madhotal while another accused Mohammed Akeel, resident of Sagda in Tilwara and Ajay Gond of Ujjain and Kalu of Piparia in Gadarwara are still at large. Additional SP (City), Priyanka Shukla (IPS) disclosed this while addressing a press conference, on Sunday. She informed that on January 30, 2024, Vijay Modi (68), resident of Madhotal lodged a complaint that he is president of Shanti Nath Digamber Jain Mandir at Nakshatra Nagar. Gardner of temple Virendra, as per his daily routine, locked the temple at around 9:30 pm on January 29. The doors of temple were to be opened at 6:20 am on January 30 but it was found that the doors were already opened and locks were broken.

 

Receiving the information on phone, he immediately reached at temple and found that the two Astha Dhatu idols of Shanti Nath and Adinath along with three donation boxes were missing from the temple. Learning about the incident, police reached the spot and registered a case under Sections 457 and 380 of IPC. Investigating the case, police failed in accessing CCTV footages as there were no CCTV cameras found in the area. In further investigation, police scrutinized the list of previous theft cases at religious places and found the names of two suspects as Santosh Kewat and Mohammed Akeel.