Women thieves steal gold jewellery from four devotees at Pardi Bhavani Mata temple on Mahaashtami

Nagpur: Women thieves took advantage of the huge crowd of devotees that thronged the Bhavani Mata temple in Pardi on Mahaashtami and stole gold jewellery from women worshippers. In the crush and jostling, the women did not realise what had happened. The theft came to light only when, on the way home, they found their mangalsutra chains broken. Complaints from four women, one after another, have caused alarm in the Pardi area.

On 19 October, Mahaashtami, devotees streamed into the Bhavani Mata temple in Pardi, and a heavy crowd remained in the temple premises until night. The women thieves used the crowd to target the devotees' jewellery.

Sarika Ashok Funde, a resident of Navkanya Nagar, was walking home after darshan at around 10 pm when she saw that the chain of the mangalsutra around her neck was broken. Half of the mangalsutra was missing. She was stunned and went to the Pardi police station to file a complaint.

While Sarika was lodging her complaint, Laxmi Sachin Gangabhoir, Bharati Jitendra Sahu and Santoshi Rohit Nirmalkar also arrived at the station. They too complained that their jewellery had been stolen. The theft of jewellery from four women at a major religious occasion such as Mahaashtami has raised questions about the safety of devotees.

Pardi police have registered a case of theft on the women's complaints. Police are now trying to establish who carried out the thefts and whether an organised gang of women thieves is behind them. They are tracing the accused through CCTV footage.