BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch on Thursday informed that a bank in Kendrapara Bazar area has blocked notorious gangster Sheik Usman Ali alias Tito’s five accounts having deposits amounting to `16.42 lakh. The agency had earlier initiated the process for freezing more than 50 bank accounts of Tito, his wife Benazir Bibi, and 18 other relatives. The accounts are in 34 banks and their branches.
“A STF team headed by a lady inspector will soon question Tito’s wife Benazir at their house in Kendrapara,” STF SP Satyajit Naik said. The agency’s officers stated that though Benazir was a house wife with no income, firms like Benazir Infrastructure Private limited, many petrol pumps and deposits, were in her name. Besides this, luxury SUV Audi Q7 is also registered in her name.
STF officers will also scrutinise that despite having criminal antecedents, how did Tito manage to get the petrol pumps in his wife’s name. STF officers also questioned Bapu Parida of Paradip for his alleged links with the gangster.