SAMBALPUR: AT least six persons, involved in broad daylight heist at Sambalpur branch of Muthoot Finance on December 28 last year, were arrested in Patna on Sunday.
Sambalpur SP Sanjeev Arora confirmed the arrest and said the Special Task Force of Patna police nabbed the miscreants, including prime accused Subodhkant Singh of Nalanda in Bihar. A five-member team of local police has left for Patna and will bring the accused to Sambalpur after obtaining transit remand, he informed.
Sambalpur police had formed special squads which were sent to different areas outside the State to identify and trace the accused following the robbery. During investigation, the teams had gathered information regarding possible involvement of two or three gangs of Patna and Jharkhand in the heist, the SP said.
As per reports, the miscreants had entered the office of Muthoot Finance, located along the busy Budharaja-Fatak main road within Ainthapali police limits in the city, as customers.
After terrorising the employees with firearms, they decamped with 25 kg of gold worth `8 crore in a car waiting outside the branch. The gold financing firm had claimed that the miscreants had looted gold ornaments from 22 of the total 46 drawers at the branch.
Arora said similar incidents had also occurred in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and police of these States were also in search of the gang.
Four held for burglaries
Sambalpur: Police on Sunday arrested four persons for their involvement in theft of gold ornaments and cash from five houses in different parts of the city. The arrested are Rajendra Munda (38), Gopinath Parida (26) and Sibsankar Munda (28), all from Bhalupali besides Jitendra Sahu (28) of Sindurpank.
Police also seized gold ornaments weighing 100 grams and cash of `19,000 from their possession. Sources said the accused usually targeted houses in which occupants were absent. Police said Rajendra was arrested first and during interrogation, he revealed involvement of his associates Gopinath and Sibsankar. Jitendra had purchased the stolen valuables from them.