BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police arrested four anti-socials, involved in illegal quarrying and seized a carbine, other weapons and ammunition from them.
Acting on a tip-off, Tamando police conducted a raid near Kalinga Vihar on Sunday night and arrested Sanjay Khuntia, Shiva Kumar Nali, Bata Krishna Pani and Prakash Routray. Police also seized two magazines of the carbine, 12 live ammunition (9 mm), two semi-automatic pistols and as many magazines, eight live ammunition (7.65 mm), three cars and seven mobile phones from them. Sources said police had information that the accused were terrorising people with arms and ammunition.
The accused were active in the Khurda district and involved in running illegal laterite, black granite and sand quarries. They used to facilitate the transportation of illegally excavated sand and stone from quarries to different destinations.
The accused kept unlicensed automatic and semi-automatic firearms with them to terrorise their opponents and take revenge on them, said DCP Prateek Singh. Khuntia was earlier involved in a murder case within Dhauli police limits.
Khuntia had reportedly procured the automatic carbine from dreaded criminal Chagala Mallick, who was killed in an encounter with the police in Nayagarh district in 2018. Pani also has criminal antecedents and was previously involved in the smuggling of cattle. Nali is a close associate of Khuntia and the latter supported him in carrying out different types of illegal activities in Khurda and Bhubaneswar, said the police.