A 41-year-old man of Indo-Canadian descent, Jagdish Pandher from Brampton city, has been apprehended for a series of break-ins and thefts at Hindu temples across Canada’s Durham Region and Greater Toronto Area, as reported by the police.
The incidents, although involving thefts from Hindu temples, do not seem to be driven by hate, clarified Durham Regional Police in a press release issued on Thursday. The police responded to a break-in at a Hindu temple situated in the vicinity of Bayly Street and Krosno Boulevard in Pickering during the early hours of October 8. The security surveillance captured Pandher breaking into the temple and absconding with a substantial sum of cash from the donation boxes. He managed to escape before the arrival of law enforcement.
Subsequent footage from surveillance cameras showed Pandher engaging in additional break-ins at Hindu temples in Pickering and Ajax later that morning. Authorities assert that the suspect is connected to numerous other break-ins at Hindu temples throughout the year, encompassing locations in both Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area.
Jagdish Pandher is now facing charges, including four counts of break-and-enter, among other offenses, according to the press release. The police are actively investigating these incidents to ensure justice is served in the context of the reported break-ins and thefts at Hindu places of worship.