BHUBANESWAR: In a plot straight out of Bollywood movie Special 26, city police arrested five persons for impersonating Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers and seized Rs 1.02 crore of stolen cash from them. The police also seized one country-made pistol and gold ornaments from the accused - Hemanta Kumar Dhir (32), Sanatan Nahak (42), Arbaz Khan (22), Sanjaya Mallick (36) and Ajmer Alli (48). While Dhir, Nahak and Khan are natives of Angul, Mallick and Alli are from Kendrapara and Jajpur districts respectively. One of the accused - Badal of Angul district is still at large.
The accused had entered the house of the victim, a retired government employee, in Nandan Vihar within Infocity police limits on August 2 evening. They identified themselves as CBI staff, said the police. After a while, four to five other members of the gang went inside and took the victim and his son to the kitchen brandishing a gun and knives.
They taped the duo’s mouths and tied their hands using towels. The miscreants then took the victim and his son to the bedroom, committed theft of Rs 1.70 crore cash along with gold ornaments and fled the spot. During the investigation, police found out that six to eight persons were suspiciously moving in a car near the victim’s house before the dacoity took place.
The police seized a SIM card from the victim’s house which was registered in the name of absconding accused Badal. He earlier worked as a driver for one of the relatives of the victim. Badal had visited the complainant’s house several times in the past.
“Dhir, Badal and their associates planned the dacoity and executed the crime. Efforts are on to nab the absconding accused,” said an officer of Infocity police station. The car used in the crime is registered in the name of Dhir and it has been seized. Sources said the victim had possibly kept huge cash in his house to buy a property.