CUTTACK: Cantonment police on Tuesday arrested another member of the gang which was involved in drugging and looting street vendors across twin city and several other districts since the last few months.
The accused was identified as Uttam Behera alias Kankada (28) of Nurupur under Jajpur’s Binjharpur area. Police have also seized cash of Rs 3,400, a mobile phone and an auto rickshaw from his possession.
Additional DCP Anil Mishra said on February 28, Uttam and two others - Bikram Biswal and Ajay Behera - had come in the auto rickshaw to the stall of tender coconut vendor Purna Chandra Behera, located on the roadside near Barabati stadium, and asked him to cut 15 coconuts which were priced at Rs 40 each.
While Purna was engaged in cutting the coconuts, Uttam offered him juice which he had bought from a nearby shop. However after drinking it, Purna lost consciousness following which the trio robbed Rs 58,000 from his pocket which he had saved for paying LIC premium, and fled. Later, locals rushed Purna to SCB Medical College and Hospital for treatment and informed his brother.
The trio had applied the same modus operandi to loot Rs 30,000 from a roadside meat seller on March 30, said Mishra. “Biswal and Behera were arrested earlier and remanded in judicial custody. The trio was involved in over 20 similar cases in different districts,” he added.