Muslim Youth Arrested with Jewelry Worth Tk 500,000 After Disguising Himself as Hindu to Steal Gold Ornaments from Temple

❐ Local correspondent

Police have arrested a Muslim youth named Mushfiqur Rahman Siam (18) for entering the family’s Manasa Mae temple in Raujan, Chittagong, dressed as a Hindu and stealing jewelry from the idol.

Within just six hours of the theft, a major portion of the stolen jewelry was recovered from his residence. The estimated value of the recovered jewelry is around five lakh taka.

The theft occurred at around 12:15 pm on Saturday, August 22nd, at the family temple of Manasa Mae, located in Singha Bari, Ward No. 7 of Chikdair Union of the upazila.

The arrested person is the son of Mizanur Rahman, a motor mechanic from Kagtia village in Paschim Gujra Union of Siam Upazila.

On Sunday afternoon, August 23, the temple’s founder, Ashutosh Singh, filed a case with Raojan Police Station. Later, when Siam was arrested and handed over to the court, the judge ordered him to be sent to jail.

According to the case report and police sources, when the temple priest went to a nearby house for a short time after performing regular pujas, the young man took the opportunity to enter the temple and escape with the jewelry offered to the idol.

Upon receiving the news of the matter, the police quickly reached the spot, collected and reviewed CCTV footage. Along with collecting evidence from the spot and with the help of information technology, the location of the suspected youth was identified. Later, a raid was conducted and Siam was arrested from Kagtia area of ​​West Gujra Union on the same evening.

After questioning, police searched a steel cupboard in the bedroom of Siam’s residence and recovered the bulk of the stolen gold and silver jewelry.

The recovered gold ornaments include a pair of earrings, a headband, a locket and two bell leaves. Their total weight is two and one annas and the estimated market value is four lakh ninety five thousand taka.

In addition, a silver necklace weighing four bhari and a pair of anklets, estimated to be worth 15,000 taka, were recovered.

CCTV footage from the temple shows a young man walking towards the temple at around 12:13 pm on Saturday. He then folded his hands in a gesture of devotion, looked around for a while, and entered through a gap in the temple’s grill. He quickly left the scene about three minutes later.

Saiful Islam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Raozan Police Station, said, “After receiving the news of the incident, the police immediately collected CCTV footage and evidence and started an investigation. With the help of information technology, it was possible to arrest the accused and recover the stolen jewelry from his house. It is initially believed that this was a premeditated theft.”