TIRUPATI: Over two months after the sensational theft of golden crowns from Lord Govindaraja Swamy in the heart of temple town of Tirupati, the police managed to identify the accused though they are yet to trace the stolen ornaments. The accused was nabbed by Dadar railway police in Mumbai in a different case and, during the investigation, his fingerprints matched with those found in the Govindaraja Swamy temple theft incident, sources said.
On February 3, the priests of one of the sub-temples of Lord Govindaraja Swamy found that the golden crowns of the Lord Venkateswara and His consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi weighing about 1.360 kg were missing.
A case was registered and the clues team collected fingerprints of suspects from the temple and sent them to all the police stations across Andhra Pradesh and other States including Maharashtra. The Tirupati police, which formed six special teams, released the sketches of the accused based on the CCTV footage but could not make much progress.
After the election schedule was released, the DSPs and inspectors involved in the investigation of the temple theft case were transferred resulting in the probe getting delayed. Meanwhile, a week back, Dadar railway police arrested a thief, identified as Akash Prathap Sarode, and his fingerprints were found to have matched with those collected in the Lord Govindaraja Swamy temple case, sources said. Akash is a resident of Hanuman Mandir Street in Juval Kandar in Nanded district.
Speaking to Express, Tirupati Urban SP Anuburajan said that a CCS team was sent to Mumbai. “We are hopeful of tracing the stolen ornaments,” Anuburajan said. The precious stone-studded ornaments belongs to Sri Kalayana Venkateswara temple, a sub-temple in Govindaraja Swamy temple in Tirupati. While Lord Malayappa’s crown weighs 528 grams, Goddess Sridevi’s crown weighs 408 grams and Goddess Bhudevi’s weighs 415 grams.