Nagpur: Two miscreants, who allegedly stole cash from the donation box of a temple after seeking forgiveness from the deity, met with a road accident while fleeing the city after CCTV footage of the heist went viral. One of them has been arrested while the other accused suffered a fracture in the leg and remains hospitalised.On the night of July 27, unknown persons forced open the main entrance and donation boxes of two adjacent shrines near Maldhakka Road under the Lakadganj police station limits. After taking out ₹7,000 from the donation boxes, the thieves damaged the CCTV system in an attempt to destroy evidence. A case was registered on the complaint of Jitendra Kumar Pandey (54).During the investigation, CCTV footage recovered by police showed one of the accused, Vansh Meshram (20), a resident of Mate Chowk, standing inside the temple. He was seen accompanied by Jainik Chaware, who apparently sought forgiveness before breaking open the donation boxes. The CCTV footage later went viral on social media.Police also said Vansh and Jainik had offences of thefts and burglaries against them. Within an hour of the theft, both accused the viral footage on their phones and were left shocked. They decided to flee towards Madhya Pradesh the same day. While riding a motorcycle on the highway, a mini-truck with a punctured tyre nearly toppled onto them.The duo fell down from the bike. Jainik, who was driving, suffered a fracture in his left leg and was hospitalised. Vansh Meshram, the pillion rider, managed to return to the city later.Police sources said after staying away for days, Vansh returned home on Wednesday. Police arrested him and recovered the stolen cash.The case was cracked through technical analysis and local inputs under the guidance of senior officers. The investigation team led by senior police inspector of Lakadganj police station Mukund Kawade and the team comprising police sub-inspectors Balaji Mane and Sagar Shinde along with head constable Amol Jasud and others traced the accused.
