BHUBANESWAR: Gold loan schemes have a new set of customers in Bhubaneswar, as police in the state capital have found.
Criminals who target women to rob them of their jewellery are reported to have pledged the loot at the gold finance agencies and walked away with cash.There are at least 34 cases in which robbers have used such agencies to get rid of their booty. This way, they also manage to evade police attention easily.
Police investigation revealed that out of at least 250 cases registered between January and September this year, the snatchers involved in around 34 cases mortgaged the stolen gold items in local branches of four financial institutions such as Muthoot, IIFL, Manappuram and Indel Money.
All these came to the fore after police nabbed some of the robbers and tried to trace the loot. “Of the gangs which are active, the local outfits resort to such strategies whereas the gangs which are from outside the state move out and lie low,” said sources in the police.In most of these cases, they submit documents such as Aadhaar and other IDs of their own and sometimes of their family members to pledge the gold to take loan before disappearing.
With snatchings on the rise in the run-up to the festive season, city police has stepped up its vigil to go after such robbers which led to the discovery. The gold finance agencies, clueless about the origin of the jewellery, accept them for extending loans, police said.
Police have also found another set of robbers who travel around 1,800 km from New Delhi, that too on two-wheelers, to target citizens of the state capital. They arrive in the city, park their two-wheelers either at Baramunda bus stand or railway station before getting down to business.
They steal two-wheelers or take them on rent for snatching gold chains from unsuspecting victims walking and travelling on roads. The robbers are mostly members of Bawariya and Irani gangs based in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively. Apart from the two groups, Eragola gang’s members from Aska in Ganjam district are also creating havoc in the capital city.
“The habitual offenders are being identified and a close watch kept on them. PCR visibility has also been increased and a close vigil is being kept on such anti-socials, especially ahead of Durga Puja,” said DCP Prateek Singh.