ROURKELA: A habitual offender allegedly involved in a series of house burglary cases was produced in court by Sector 7 police of Rourkela on Sunday.
The accused is 23-year-old Purna Chandra Pattanaik of Sector 15 slum. Two women were also forwarded to the court for receiving the items stolen by Purna, said police.
Deputy SP Jogeshwar Panda said while investigating a house burglary in September last year, Sector 7 police came to know about the involvement of the accused in the case. Subsequently, Purna was arrested.
The DSP said the accused acted alone and entered houses in different sector areas by breaking open the asbestos roofs. During interrogation, Purna admitted to his involvement in at least 10 house burglary cases under Sector 7, 15 and 19 areas. Panda said the accused was previously arrested in three other similar cases.
Stolen articles including two wrist watches, one mobile phone, around 50 gram gold ornaments with present value of around Rs 6.24 lakh and Rs 1 lakh cash were recovered from him. Panda said after every loot, Purna handed over the stolen gold and silver ornaments besides cash to the two accused women.