Jaipur: Son of businessman held for stealing gold, silver items from temples | Jaipur News

Sumit Agarwal (right) in police custody in city on Saturday

JAIPUR: A 42-year-old son of a wealthy business family was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stealing silver and gold items from nearly a dozen city temples, including the one where his family made donations.
The accused, Sumit Agarwal, searched for temples near him on Google maps and then examined online photos of deities to see if he could find valuable items to steal.
DCP (Jaipur-North) Paris Deshmukh said that police also arrested Mukesh Kumar for purchasing stolen items from Agarwal.
The subsequent interrogation with the accused yielded stunning revelations about his criminal past. “We have so far discovered that Agarwal was involved in nine temple thefts in Jaipur, including in Malviya Nagar, Malpura Gate, Muhana, Sanganer, Galta Gate, Mansarover, and Pratap Nagar,” Deshmukh said.
A police team led by Galta Gate SHO Mukesh Kumar Khardia was investigating a heist at an ancient temple on May 10, when they found Agarwal’s involvement.
As per the police, Agarwal comes from an influential business family, mostly involved in brick manufacturing. As per Deshmukh, the family had donated bricks to Jain temples for construction and redevelopment.
“The accused targeted one of the sample temples where his family had once donated,” Deshmukh said.
Police learned that the family had severed their ties with Agarwal because of his wrongful conduct. The family also cut off financial help to the accused.
Police later learned that the accused allegedly forged signatures on the family’s cheques to illegally withdraw money. He had gone to jail in eight such fraud cases, and there were six warrants against Agarwal.