GADAG : Lakshmeshwar police have arrested a three-member gang that looted many temples in the state. Gold ornaments and vehicles worth Rs 46.22 lakh have been recovered from them.
The accused have been identified as jail warden Shrikant Gudagur, 29, Prasad, 28, and Pradeep, 28. According to the police, Shrikant obtained information on wealthy temples from Google and passed the same to Prasad and Pradeep. They confessed that they had murdered a member of their gang earlier.
The gang looted temples in Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Vijayanagar, Haveri, Tumakuru and Gadag districts in the past two years. Prasad’s brother, Ramesh, was also part of the gang. They used to target temples on instructions from Shrikant. Shrikant, who met the other accused in Chitradurga jail, helped them come out and used them to loot temples. One day, Ramesh fought with Shrikant, Prasad and Pradeep after having liquor. The trio assaulted Ramesh and strangled him to death. Later, they buried him. The murder came to light during investigation.
Recently, the trio looted Holelamma temple in Shirahatti taluk, Amba Bhavani temple and Bannikoppa temple. Lakshmeshwar police, who launched an investigation, arrested the trio based on CCTV footage obtained from temple premises. Police said that they had cracked 15 temple theft cases with this arrest.