A man from Rajasthan’s Alwar was caught on CCTV breaking into a temple and offering prayers before stealing money and other valuable items. The man has been identified as Gopesh Sharma (37) and he allegedly only targets temples.
The CCTV footage taken on Saturday morning showed Sharma at a temple in Alwar’s Adarsh Nagar area offering prayers before eventually taking out money from the donation box. He broke the temple’s lock and stole silver jewellery, umbrellas, the money from the donation box and other items.
A similar incident happened in another temple located in Friends Colony, Alwar, where a man was caught on CCTV stealing items after offering prayers.
After the video of the theft went viral, police arrested Gopesh Sharma after identifying him from the CCTV footage. During the questioning, he confessed that he had committed similar thefts at several temples.
Police later found out that Gopesh Sharma only targets temples. He would scout the temples and, after the priest left for the night, would break into them to steal the valuable items.
Police are currently searching for his old records and it is expected that other incidents will also be revealed during their investigation.