BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police on Monday said stern action will be taken against members of the local criminal gang for brandishing weapons and dancing on the middle of a road during night curfew hours.“All the accused featuring in the video have been identified. Out of them, five are already in jail for their involvement in criminal activities and two more members were apprehended on Monday,” said Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash. A separate case has been registered at Nayapalli police station against the youths for brandishing weapons and recording the video, he added.
Sources said police have identified as many as 29 youths for creating havoc on the roads and recording the video. Investigation suggests the hooligans recorded the video and uploaded it on the social media to terrorise contractors, businessmen, cycle stand vendors and others for extortion.
On the day, Nayapalli police arrested Kanhu Sahu and Sahil Kumar Sarangi who feature in the video, and for attacking two persons near CRPF Square on October 21. The police searched the house of an absconding member of the gang - Rajesh Behera in Pokhariput and recovered a sword. They removed the asbestos and dug the floor of Behera’s house to ascertain whether he had concealed any weapon.
However, police face a major challenge as gang’s leader Debi Prasad Jena, son of a dismissed home guard, is still at large. Debi along with 12 of his associates had attacked two youths near the busy CRPF Square on October 21 evening but so far he has managed to evade arrest.