LUCKNOW: Taking advantage of his flexible body and acrobatic abilities, one Pradeep aka Kalia sneaked into the 150-year-old Anandi Devi temple in Chowk area of Lucknow through the small space on the top portion of the gate and decamped with valuables worth lakhs four days back.
He was arrested from Sitapur on Saturday. Police also recovered a silver crown, a gold chain and Rs 36,171 cash kept in a donation box.
ADCP West Zone, CN Sinha, told TOI that during investigation, police got CCTV footage in which his image appeared, and police traced his name through human intelligence.
"Later, a team conducted a raid at his Sitapur house where the stolen ornaments were recovered. He had hidden the valuables on the roof of the raunch house," said Sinha.
The theft was reported in the wee hours of October 11, when Pradeep broke into the temple and decamped with the silver crown of the deity, gold-plated face of the idol and cash from the donation box.
Chowk police station is about 20m from the temple and a police outpost is also there in the neighbourhood, but cops got no whiff till morning when temple authorities called UP112.
