Odisha: Rival jeweller plotted loot, ends up with double murder
JAJPUR: Jajpur police on Thursday claimed to have solved the sensational dacoity-cum-murder of a jewellery shop owner and his staffer in Binjharpur area in Jajpur district with the arrest of seven members of an inter-district gang, including a Binjharpur- based jeweller.
The incident had taken place at Kharia Nala on Binjharpur-Kapila Road near Pritipur Bazaar under Binjharpur police station limits in the district on Friday night. The dacoits had looted cash and gold jewellery worth over lakhs of rupees from the owner of Tarini Jewellers Khageshwar Rana (51) and his staffer Chaitanya Prasad Sahu (45) and killed them by slitting their throats.
Police said a local jewellery shop owner, Chandrakanta Sahoo alias Babu of Olarpur, was the mastermind behind the crime.“Babu, who has a jewellery shop at Binjharpur, had hatched the plan to loot Tarini Jewellers and he had contacted the dacoity gang to loot the shop. Babu had finalised the deal by offering 70 per cent of the current value of the looted ornaments to the dacoits and retaining the rest 30 per cent with himself,” police said.
Talking to media at Panikoili, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Soumendra Priyadarshi said as the case was sensitive, police had formed three separate squads to nab the gang involved in the dacoity and the double murder. The teams were working under the supervision of Jajpur SP Charan Singh Meena.
“The intention of the dacoits was not to kill the jewellery shop owner or its staffer. Their motive was to loot the jewellery shop located at Pritipur Bazar after taking its keys from the shop owner. But, during snatching of keys from the shop owner, both shop owner Rana and his staffer Sahu identified the dacoits. The dacoits then eliminated them to destroy evidence,” Priyadarshi said.
The seven accused were apprehended after raids at different locations in Jajpur and Kendrapara in the past couple of days, the IGP said, adding that gold ornaments worth over lakhs of rupees were also recovered from their possession. Efforts are on to nab the remaining accused.The police also recovered a country-made pistol with two live cartridges, one chopper, one iron rod, one purse of Tarini Jewellers containing a bunch of keys, three motorcycles , one SUV vehicle and five mobile phones from them.
According to police, the accused are from Binjharpur and Sukinda in Jajpur and Indupur and Kendrapara town in neighbouring district.The arrested have been identified as Shaik Ramjan alias Ramu of Sukinda, Shaik Sarafat of Binjharpur, Pintu Sethy of Indupur, Shaik Mustak alias Mitu of Dobanda, Mustak Hussain of Indipur, Chandrakanta Sahoo alias Babu of Olarpur and Rajenrda Das alias Matia Raju of New Jamupasi.The arrested were forwarded to local court on Thursday.