ROURKELA: Five armed miscreants reportedly looted around Rs 3.59 lakh cash from the office of a transport firm at Barsuan under Lahunipada police limits in Sundargarh’s mineral-rich Koida block, around 100 km from Rourkela, late on Wednesday night.
Police sources said wearing masks, the miscreants arrived on two four-wheelers and barged into the office of Basukinath Roadways Private Limited (BNRPL) near Barsuan railway siding in Bonai sub-division. Holding firearms, they terrorised the BNRPL employees present on night duty and also partially ransacked the office before decamping with the available cash.
On being informed, Lahunipada police rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. As part of investigation, the CCTV footage was analysed. IIC of Lahunipada police station Suraj Jhankar said as per preliminary reports, five masked dacoits holding small firearms barged into the transport company’s office between 10 pm and 10.15 pm on Wednesday. They looted about `3.59 lakh after terrorising some BNRPL staff present on night duty.
Jhankar said it was not immediately clear if some members of the gang were present outside the office during the loot. The miscreants were speaking in Hindi. Soon after, BNRPL director Bajrang Agarwal was informed about the loot. A written report is awaited in connection with the incident, the IIC added.
Earlier, four Hindi-speaking armed miscreants had looted gold ornaments and cash worth `40 lakh from a house in Bonai town, about 50 km from Barsuan, just after midnight on October 26.
Similarly, in the intervening night of September 25-26, 20 armed miscreants had looted costly transformer parts and electrical goods from the under-construction power grid site at Darjing in Lahunipada after taking hostage some contract workers and private security guards. Subsequently, Lahunipada police had arrested three miscreants of Rourkela involved in the power grid loot.
Police sources said it is suspected that one or more criminal gangs from Rourkela and adjacent Jharkhand might be involved in all the three loot incidents.