Thief caught red-handed stealing from Siddhivinayak Temple donation box

MUMBAI: A thief was caught red-handed on Friday morning while allegedly stealing money from the donation box at the famous Siddhivinayak Temple located in the Dombivli MIDC residential area, police officials said.

The incident took place at around 6.34 A.M. and the entire act was captured on CCTV cameras installed inside the temple premises.

According to information, the accused entered the temple pretending to be a devotee coming to offer prayers. After spending some time inside the temple, he allegedly used a thin wooden stick coated with glue to pull currency notes out of the donation box without drawing attention from people around him.

Temple authorities later noticed suspicious activity while monitoring the CCTV footage. Acting promptly, temple treasurer Chandrashekhar Shinde, along with devotee Pandurang Ude, who had come to the temple for darshan early in the morning, confronted the accused and caught him on the spot before he could flee.

The accused was subsequently handed over to the Manpada Police station for further investigation and legal action.