BHUBANESWAR: Two dacoits were lynched by a mob in Nayagarh district while trying to escape after looting a bank in Kasanda village under Ranapur police limits on Wednesday. A third, who suffered critical injuries, has been hospitalised.
The miscreants were captured near a farm before being overpowered by the public, which was already tipped off about the heist. The public, which went after them, turned their ire on the trio and for over half an hour, the dacoits were beaten mercilessly before being rescued by the police.
The police rushed the miscreants to Nayagarh district headquarters hospital (DHH) but two of them succumbed on the way. While the identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained, police sources said they belonged to Khurda town. Ranapur police registered an FIR in this connection and will soon record statement of the third accused, who is recuperating at the DHH.
The incident took place at around 3.15 pm when the trio came on a bike and entered the bank, which was manned by just three staffers. They were armed with sharp weapons, bomb and chilly powder packets. Police said two of them attacked the peon and held the other staffers captive and the third collected around `3 lakh from the cash box at the teller counter.
They fled towards an isolated area through a ‘kuchha’ road but the locals, who got a whiff of the dacoity, chased them down near a farm field. The villagers rained boulders at the miscreants, sources said. Senior police officers, including Additional SP Sridhar Pani, rushed to the spot. Nayagarh SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said the ASP will submit a report on the incident on Thursday.
“We will examine the CCTV feeds and act against those involved in the incidents,” the SP said. Kasanda is located about 28 km from Ranapur police station and the nearest police outpost at Sarankul is 11 km away. The dacoits, police suspect, are habitual offenders, well-versed with the locality and escape routes. The dacoits removed the CCTV camera installed in the bank and tried to damage its feed. The camera has been recovered and is being examined.
“We had to carry the deceased and the injured in police jeep for about half a kilometre before an ambulance could be arranged to proceed towards the hospital,” a police official said. The looted money has been recovered and a two-wheeler, weapons and the bombs seized.