Jobless blueline conductors take to stealing from temple

While two of them would cover the safe,the third would steal the cash with the help of a long iron tongs.

“In the last one month,temple officials had found long iron tongs near the chest which is placed in the main hall of Sai Baba Mandir for devotees. They removed the tongs but were unable to find out who was keeping them there and for what purpose.

“Recently,similar tongs were found kept at the same place but this time they did not remove them and the committee members of Sai Baba temple decided to keep a watch on the safe by deputing their own staff. This led to the arrest of Kumar,” Chhaya Sharma,Deputy Commissioner of Police (South),said.

On Friday,while the afternoon prayer was on,one of the workers Nawal noticed three youths were standing near the safe. Two of them had covered the safe while third was stealing the cash with the help of the tongs.

“He immediately informed another worker Rajpal and both of them moved towards the safe. But somehow,two of the accused sensed trouble and escaped from the spot,” Sharma said.

However,Mukesh was apprehended while he was stealing the cash from safe. Rs 700 were recovered from his possession.

Mukesh told the police that he was working as a conductor in blueline bus plying from ISBT to Uttam Nagar. He became unemployed after the phasing out of blueline buses in Delhi.

His associates Vikas and Dinesh,who are absconding,were also working as conductors on the same route. “One day,they had visited Sai Baba Mandir to pray to Sai Baba to get new employment. While praying,they noticed that the chest is placed in a corner of the main hall and at the time of prayer,everybody pays attention only towards the statue.

“Hence,they planned to steal the cash from the safe during prayers. As per their plan,they procured iron tongs from a roadside blacksmith and stole the cash from the safe,” Sharma said.

Mukesh disclosed that they have stolen cash from the safe three times and every time they managed to steal around Rs 10,000,Sharma said.

A school dropout,Mukesh started working as helper in buses and later become a conductor.