CHENNAI: "I am a beggar, you must be mistaken!" was the justification a suspect gave when a police team from the city, camped in Maharashtra for 10 days, apprehended him for targeting and stealing from Jain temples across the country. Under the efforts to look like an ascetic was a serial burglar who has been targeting Jain temples in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka for years now, the police said.
"The accused was aware that in Jain temples, a forehead pendant made of gold and a silver crown is a permanent fixture, and so he targeted these temples," a senior police officer said.
The Elephant Gate police have been on the lookout for the accused for about a year now, since he struck at a Jain temple at Sowcarpet's Mint Street. The temple trustees learnt about the break-in on Valentine's Day 2025. About 600 grams of gold and 10 kg of silver crowns were stolen from the temple.
"The CCTV which was in our possession was grainy, so we could not have a clear look at his face," a police officer said. However, a few months later, there was another break-in at a couple of Jain temples in Telangana's Kacheguda. The CCTV footage of the suspect, better than the one at Chennai, reached the temple trustees here, who sensed a pattern and communicated with the top brass of the city police.
The police personnel from Chennai first reached Telangana. They then moved to Karnataka, after a tip-off to the police there about a suspect arrested for house break-in.
Based on the details in the records, the Chennai police worked on locating his known associates and pinpointed his current location in Pune.
Coordinating with the local police, the Elephant Gate police team secured the accused, Jeevan Singh (60), on Monday (February 9). He lived with his wife and two sons. He claimed to have handed over the loot in all his break-ins to a realtor in Navi Mumbai. The team also arrested the second accused, Rajbhau Rathore (30), but he managed to secure bail.
Jeevan Singh was produced before a magistrate in Maharashtra, and a police team obtained a transit warrant. He was brought to Chennai and remanded.
"So far, in our investigations, we have found that he has stolen from Jain temples in Salem, Chengalpattu, and districts in Karnataka and Telangana. He likely struck in other states, too," a police officer said.