Key accused in Kota museum burglary case arrested from UP

A key member of an interstate gang that allegedly stole antique items and jewellery from the Rao Madho Singh Museum in the Kota Garh Palace has been arrested, police said.

Arun Taiwatia (28), a resident of Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Ghaziabad on Friday. On Saturday, he was produced before a court in Kota that sent him to seven days’ police custody, Superintendent of Police (Kota City) Sharad Choudhary said. Two other accused — Achin Jatav (24) and Prabhat Panchal (27) of Ghaziabad — were nabbed from Delhi on Tuesday and are being interrogated in police custody, he added.

Taiwatia was nabbed on the basis of the duo’s disclosure by officers from the District Special Team and the cyber cell, Choudhary said. The senior official added that Taiwatia and Panchal were also involved in the burglary of Dr Ramnath Poddhar Haveli Museum at Naval Garh in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district on February 18.

A police team team will travel to Ghaziabad with the trio to recover the stolen articles, Circle Officer and Deputy Superintendent of Police Harshraj Singh said on Sunday. The accused carried out a recce of both the museums before burgling those, he added.

The burglary at the Kota Garh Palace museum took place on the intervening night of February 26 and 27. The museum manager filed a report alleging that two people had entered the palace after jumping over the boundary wall, broke open the lock and took away antiques and gold-polished silver jewelery from two showcases, police had said.