The city police probing the loss of a bronze vessel from Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple have decided to drop theft charges and slap another section after the questioning of suspect revealed that he carried the vessel out of the temple by mistake.
Senior police officials told Onmanorama that there was one suspect in the case; an Australian citizen who was also an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card holder. His wife and a friend were not named suspects in the case. The police have not officially revealed the name of the person who was held in Haryana and brought to Fort police station for questioning.
During the interrogation, he told police that he already had a plate when he entered the temple, and when he dropped it, a devotee handed over the bronze vessel to him. The water in the bronze vessel is sprinkled for the purification of temple premises. It is considered to be of archaeological value. Temple authorities said that it is a small vessel kept in the temple.
Fort police earlier registered a case under section 305 of BNS (Theft). After it was known that the suspect took the vessel out of temple by mistake and it was a case of misunderstanding, the police have changed the section to 314 BNS ( dishonestly misappropriating or converting property to one’s own use).
It is learnt that his arrest will be recorded, and he will be let off on station bail. The punishment under this offence shall not be less than six months but may extend upto two years. The cops tracked the suspect based on surveillance footage and details of passport he had given at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram.