Priest arrested for stealing ₹7-L gold from singer’s home

The Khar police on Sunday arrested a 46-year-old priest, who worked at singer Anuradha Paudwal’s house in Khar for a decade, for stealing gold ornaments worth ₹7 lakh offered to the idol of a goddess in her temple.

HT Image

Despite repeated attempts by Hindustan Times, Paudwal was unavailable for a comment.

According to the Khar police, when Paudwal returned home from work around 8pm on Friday, she discovered that a gold chain, gold bangles and gold anklets offered to the idol were missing. She questioned the priest and house help, but did not get answer. She then called her personal assistant, Nishant Parmar, 27, who also quizzed the two. She then informed the Khar police about the theft.

The police went to her residence and lodged a first information report (FIR) under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The police zeroed in on the priest, 46-year-old Vimlendru Mishra, a resident of Vile Parle (East), as the culprit. Mishra later confessed that he allegedly gave the ornaments to his friend. Gajanan Kabdule, senior police inspector, Khar police station, said, “We have arrested the accused and are trying to recover the valuables.”

A magistrate court on Sunday remanded the accused in police custody for further investigation.