A teenager has been arrested in Chattogram’s Raozan after allegedly entering a family temple in a devotional manner and stealing jewellery placed on a Hindu deity. Police said most of the stolen gold and silver ornaments, worth around Tk 510,000, were recovered from the suspect’s home within six hours of the theft.
The incident took place shortly after noon on Saturday, 22 August, at the family Manasa Mata Temple at Singh Bari in Ward 7 of Chikdair Union, Raozan upazila.
The arrested suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Mushfikur Rahman Siam, son of motor mechanic Mizanur Rahman of Kagtia village in West Guzra Union.
According to the case statement and police, the temple priest had completed the regular worship and briefly gone to a neighbouring house when the theft occurred. Taking advantage of the absence, the young man allegedly entered the temple and removed jewellery offered to the deity before leaving the premises.
Closed-circuit television footage became a key part of the investigation. The footage reportedly shows a young man arriving on foot at about 12.13pm on Saturday and standing in front of the temple. He then joined his hands in what appeared to be a gesture of devotion and looked around for a short while before entering through the bars of the temple grille.
About three minutes later, he was seen leaving the area quickly.
After receiving information about the theft, police reached the temple and began collecting evidence. Investigators reviewed the surveillance footage and gathered physical evidence from the scene. With the assistance of information technology, they subsequently identified the suspected location of the young man.
Police launched an operation in the Kagtia area of West Guzra Union later that day and arrested Siam in the evening, roughly six hours after the theft.
Following his arrest and questioning, officers searched a steel almirah in the bedroom of his home. They recovered most of the stolen ornaments, including several pieces of gold and silver jewellery.
The recovered gold ornaments comprised a pair of earrings, a head ornament, a locket and two bel-pata-shaped pieces. Together, the gold items weighed two bhori and one ana and were estimated to be worth Tk 495,000. Police also recovered a four-bhori silver necklace and a pair of anklets, valued at approximately Tk 15,000.
The combined estimated value of the recovered gold and silver ornaments is therefore around Tk 510,000.
The temple’s founder, Ashutosh Singh, filed a case with Raozan Police Station on Sunday afternoon, 23 August. Siam was subsequently shown arrested in connection with the case and produced before a court. The judge ordered that he be sent to jail.
Raozan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Saiful Islam said investigators had immediately collected the CCTV footage and other evidence after receiving the report of the theft. He said information technology had helped police identify and arrest the suspect and recover the stolen jewellery from his home.
Police have initially suspected that the theft may have been planned in advance. The investigation is continuing to establish the full circumstances of the incident and determine whether anyone else was involved.
