Ranchi: Three persons have been arrested on charges of murdering Jagannath mandir’s guard and decamping with over Rs 3 lakh from a donation box on Thursday night, Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh Ranjan said on Saturday.The arrested were identified as Dev Kumar, Vikas Mahli, and Ayush Kumar, all residents of New Colony, Jagannathpur, under the Dhurwa police station limits, he added.“The assailants broke into the temple on Thursday night to steal money from the donation box. They saw guard Birsa Munda (60) sleeping on the premises and hit him on the head with a stone as they feared being identified. Birsa lived in Niladri, which is located near New Colony area. They then stole over Rs 3 lakh from the donation box. They bought clothes and shoes from shops on the main road on Friday,” the SSP added.“Based on closed circuit television camera footages, besides technical and human inputs, a police team, led by SP (city) Paras Rana detained the three accused from different areas of Dhurwa. They have confessed to the crime. Based on their revelations, Rs 3 lakh has been recovered from the homes of the three accused. The stone and the rod used in the crime have been seized,” SSP Ranjan said.Dev is an accused in four cases registered with the Jagannathpur, Vidhan Sabha, and Dhurwa police stations while Vikas was booked in a case lodged with Sukhdevnagar police station.
