Sambalpur police bust inter-Odisha dacoit gang; arrests seven
SAMBALPUR: In a major breakthrough, Sambalpur police on Thursday night busted an inter-State gang of dacoits and arrested seven members.
They were plotting at Canal Chowk in Kainsir area under Ainthapali police limits to loot the branch of Manappuram Gold Loan at Ainthapali when police nabbed them. Police also seized three semi-automatic country-made pistols, two single-shot country-made pistols, 10 live ammunition and five masks besides two Sedan cars.
Sambalpur SP Akhileshwar Singh said of the seven arrested persons, four hailed from Uttar Pradesh, two from Bihar and one from Punjab. The accused have been identified as Virendar Singh alias Verr alias Bilal (28) of Jalandhar in Punjab, Jitendra Kumar Singh alias Jitu (27), Ramaji Singh alias Ram (22), Naushad Ahammad Ansari (23) and Vishal Singh alias Bholu (26), all from Balia district in Uttar Pradesh, Santosh Kumar Bakadia (24) and Mohammad Azharuddin alias Chintu (28) of Patna in Bihar.
Akhileshwar Singh said one Lal Singh was admitted to VIMSAR, Burla with bullet injuries on January 18. During interrogation, police came to know that an inter-State gang of dacoits had come to Sambalpur in two cars with an intention to commit dacoity. Subsequently, all the police stations were put on alert, he added.
Acting on a tip-off, Ainthapali police, along with Special Squad, managed to arrest the dacoits at Canal Chowk in Kainsir. A few days back, three members of the gang had conducted a recce of the branch at Ainthapali.
The miscreants had also looted one of the seized cars from Jharsuguda on January 17. Lal, who is also a member of the gang, is undergoing treatment at VIMSAR.
All the arrested have criminal antecedents and they were involved in robbery of Gramin Bank at Ekama in Saran district of Bihar, loot and murder of a gold merchant at Dighwara in Bihar, dacoity of a branch of Manappuram Gold Loan at Jalandhar in Punjab, loot of cars in Patna and Jharsuguda, robbery of petrol pumps at Patna and Pithora.
Jalandhar police had announced a cash reward of `one lakh on Virendar Singh, Singh said. They have already informed the Jalandhar, Patna and Chhattisgarh police about the arrest, he added.