Gujarat Police have made a major breakthrough by apprehending the Garasiya gang members, who were behind eight thefts at isolated temples adjacent to highways.

As per the complaint by Karjan police, thieves had removed the idol’s eyes, gold strips above the ‘tilak’, and cash from the donation box at a Jain Derasar near Dethan village in Vadodara’s Karjan.

The probe led the police to establish that the Garasiya gang, based in Sirohi’s Pindwara taluka in Rajasthan, was behind this theft.

A police team went to Sirohi and nabbed Lalaram Sohan and Sunilal alias Sinaram Sisodiya, based on specific information.

Their interrogation revealed that Sohan worked as a labourer and polished stones at temples.

His peers, who held the same occupation, used to travel to Gujarat for temple polishing work.

Sohan followed them to Gujarat and kept a mental note of the remote temples he worked at.

He then located these Jain ‘Derasars’ and other temples through the help of Google Maps and came down with his accomplices equipped with iron rods and screwdrivers, among other tools.

He would break into these temples, steal ornaments and other precious items, as well as cash from the donation box, and abscond without a trace.

Police confiscated two mobile phones and a Maruti Suzuki Eeco car from the accused and declared nine other gang members absconding in this case.

A total of three complaints have been registered against Sohan in Pindwara as well as Bhavnagar in Gujarat. Sisodiya has been booked in five such cases in Rajasthan.

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