BHUBANESWAR: In the midst of heightened police bandobast in the capital city for the Assembly session, criminals struck twice on Tuesday - robbed a police officer’s mother and looted a jewellery shop, raising serious concerns over public safety and law and order.
In the first incident, two unidentified bike-borne miscreants snatched a gold necklace of an elderly woman, Sakuntala Mohanty while she was on her way home from morning walk in Sailashree Vihar area of Chandrasekharpur. The incident took place at around 7 am.
“I was on my way back from morning walk when the miscreants on a bike snatched my necklace. It happened in a flash. I quickly bent down and found my locket lying on the ground but the looters had fled the spot with the necklace,” the elderly citizen said whose son is said to be employed with the state police. Based on the complaint, Chandrasekharpur police have launched a probe.
This, however, wasn’t the sole incident as in a separate case, a masked robber used a chemical spray to incapacitate the owner of a jewellery store before fleeing with valuables. CCTV footage showed that the miscreant came to Subhalaxmi Jewellery and Workshop in Kalinga Vihar area.
He sprayed a substance on store-keeper Bijay Barik before decamping with gold ornaments and valuables worth `6 lakh.
Barik told mediapersons that the miscreant, wearing a face mask, entered the shop as a customer and asked him to show gold rings and other jewellery. He wanted to check some gold rings for himself and selected a few too.
Later, when the store-keeper was putting the jewellery back in the shelf, the miscreant pulled out a canister from his trouser pocket, sprayed it on his eyes and managed to decamp with jewellery from the shop.
Based on the complaint, Tamando police launched an inquiry into the matter and were examining the CCTV footage. The two back-to-back crimes in broad daylight, however, sparked alarm and posed a big poser on policing in the city.