JHARSUGUDA: Nine days after a band of dacoits looted a businessman after terrorising his family at gun-point in his house, Jharsuguda police on Saturday cracked the case by recovering property valued at over Rs 1.29 crore.
Eight criminals were arrested while two juveniles in conflict with law were detained in connection with the incident in Vinayak Puram Lane in the city.
Those arrested were identified as Sanjay Singh, Radhakanta Kanhar (38), Ashok Kumar Panda (58), Jagabandhu Behera, Kanha Charan Swain (25) and Jitendra Sahoo (30), Anand Rai (24) and Sushila Meher (30).
Police recovered Rs 37.27 lakh in cash, 521 gram gold worth Rs 66.56 lakh and 14.32 kg of silver worth Rs 24.77 lakh. Seized items also include three country-made pistols, 12 live rounds, knives, fake number plates, two cars, two scooters, a motorcycle, 12 mobile phones and household appliances reportedly purchased using stolen money.
The robbery took place on the night of November 19 at the house of wholesale trader Mukesh Buchwani. Police said, the accused allegedly entered the residence around 8.30 pm, tied up six family members and held them at gunpoint for nearly three hours while they looted cash, gold and silver articles. The gang fled around 11 pm and Buchwani lodged a complaint the next day.
Under the supervision of SP Gundala Reddy Raghavendra, multiple teams launched an intensive investigation using CCTV mapping, route analysis, mobile tower location tracking, call detail records. The use of two pre-activated mobile numbers by the accused proved to be a key breakthrough.
Based on the digital footprints and ground intelligence, police apprehended the accused from multiple districts, including Jharsuguda, Boudh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bolangir, Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum and Bihar. Addressing the media, the SP said, “The accused carried out the dacoity after extensive planning. It was initially a blind case with no immediate leads. After nine days of sustained digital surveillance and forensic analysis, all accused were tracked and arrested. All stolen property has been recovered.”
Investigations revealed that the crime had been planned for nearly two years, with around 10 failed attempts made in the last year alone. Police identified Ashok as the mastermind, who allegedly roped in co-accused Sanjay. The duo, known to each other since 1991, reportedly attempted a kidnapping in Sambalpur in 2016, during which Ashok was arrested and Sanjay escaped. The other accused later joined to arrange logistics, vehicles and SIM cards.
SP Raghavendra urged residents to install CCTV cameras, verify unknown persons, secure identity credentials, improve outdoor lighting and promptly report suspicious activity.