Prayagraj: A ‘dead man’ turned out to be the mastermind of around 50 thefts in temples across India over the past two decades.Vijay Kumar Shukla’s long string of crimes finally ended when Chitrakoot police arrested him with his three aides on April 12. In his confession to the police, Shukla, 45, claimed being a god-fearing man who hired others to execute thefts.Shukla, a native of Chitrakoot, was jailed in a murder case and walked out on bail in 2004. Thereafter he relocated to Agra and even got himself declared ‘dead’ in revenue records of his village.Police said his gang stole idols, silver ornaments and bells from temples across the country, and some of these were donated to other temples by the kingpin to please the deities. Shukla would hire notorious thieves from Banda, Bijnor, Kaushambi and Fatehpur to execute the thefts.Prior to executing thefts, the gang would feed poisoned sweets to the dogs around the temples to ensure they did not pose an obstacle.Police have found photographs of more than 300 temples across India from the mobiles of Shukla and his aides.His three arrested aides were identified as Babar Shah of Bijnor, Mohan Lal of Kaushambi, and Kamta Prasad of Fatehpur.SP Chitrakoot AK Singh told TOI: “Shukla would recee the targeted temples across India and later assign the job to his accomplices. Most of the stolen silver jewellery and other valuables from temples were sold in Agra and Mathura markets.”Cops recovered 7kg silver, a mace of Lord Hanuman, and Rs 65,700 cash from them.Police records revealed that 14 cases including that of murder, loot, and theft—are registered against Vijay Kumar shukla. Besides, seven cases are registered against Babar Shah of Bijnor, nine cases against Mohanlal and six cases against Kamta Prasad in different districts of the state. All of them were served jail time as well.
