The sudden spurt in armed looting cases in areas under Rourkela police district by criminals from Jharkhand and some local groups has put the local police in a spot. Although police have managed to arrest some criminals, there has been little let-up as armed criminals continue to raid houses and business establishments with impunity.
On Thursday evening, around a dozen armed dacoits raided the fuel filling station at Bisra owned by Ramavatar Rajuka and looted cash after assaulting its employees and customers.
On March 6, five armed miscreants had unsuccessfully raided the house of Ramavatar’s brother Janardhan at Bisra. Janardhan was injured in the head and two miscreants were immediately nabbed.
Rourkela SP Amitendra Nath Sinha said the five dacoits involved in the loot attempt on Janardhan’s house were arrested. They were also found to be involved in the loot of a medicine store in Rourkela Government Hospital campus, a house at Chhend Colony, a shop at Sector-2 and a fuel filling station in interior Koida.
The SP said the dacoits involved in Thursday’s incident belonged to a different gang. Police said the modus operandi of the criminals is not sophisticated as they are targeting shops, houses and fuel stations indiscriminately in rural and urban pockets in crude manner. Above a dozen cases of armed loot have been registered in the past 45 days.
Sources said the criminals might have intruded into the jurisdiction of Rourkela police district after Sundargarh police launched a manhunt to nab them. A shop-keeper Gouri Agarwal said resisting the armed criminals may prove counter-productive. Two years ago, the adventure of a shop-keeper Sanjay Raul at Basanti Colony saw him killed by the looters. Rourkela SP exuded confidence to nab the criminals soon.