Gold idol worth Rs 1cr stolen from Kachner Jain temple

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad

A two-kgs gold idol of Bhagwan Parshwanath worth Rs 1 crore was stolen by replacing it with a copper idol at Atishay Tirth Kshetra, a pilgrim centre of Jains at Kachner in Aurangabad. The incident came to the fore on Saturday morning. The temple administration met SP Manish Kalwaniya and lodged a complaint. The police have started the investigation of the CCTV footage of the temple and are interrogating the suspects.

According to the details, the chaturmas of Jain Muni Saubhagya Sagar Maharaj were at Kachner Jain temple this year. He had appealed to the devotees to install a gold statue in the temple. The devotees donated gold and an idol weighing 2 kgs 33 grams was prepared. During the Panchkalyanak Mahotsav in November, the procession of the idol was held and then it was installed in the temple. Armed security guards were deployed for the security of the idol worth around Rs 1 crore.

On the occasion of Parshwanath Jayanti on December 19, an Abhishek of the idol was done. The temple priest Ajeet Goswavi saw that the colour of the idol was faded. He informed about it the manager of the temple Swapnil Jain. Swapnil then informed about it managing director Suresh Kasliwal and other trustees. On Saturday at around 11 am, the trustees went to the temple. They weighed the idol and found that its weight was just 943 grams. It was found that the real gold idol was replaced with a copper idol.

As per the directives of SP Kalwaniya, sub-divisional police officer Jaydutta Bhavar, PI of Chikalthana police station Devidas Gaat, local crime branch officers, and policemen rushed to the spot. The police started investigating the CCTV footage of the temple. They also interrogated the employees and guards of the temple.

SP Kalwaniya said we received a complaint that a gold idol weighing 2 kgs in Bhagwan Parshwanath temple in Kachner was stolen. We are checking the CCTV footage of the temple and the investigation is on.

There are rumors that some other idol of valuable metal has also been stolen from the locker of the temple, but the trustees have not yet confirmed it.