BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK:As the Commissionerate of Police is on its toes to frame an impermeable case against the dreaded gangster duo Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samanta, raids have been intensified in four districts of the State where the brothers exerted extensive clout and terror.
Multiple units of Twin City police teamed up with local police of Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Puri and Keonjhar districts which were hunting grounds of the Dhal Samanta brothers. The duo had business interests and spread their extortion ring in different industrial pockets of these districts.
“A close associate of the brothers, Litu, who is serving a jail sentence, was brought on police remand on Wednesday. His interrogation would provide crucial leads in many criminal activities in which the Dhal Samata brothers were directly or indirectly involved,” Police Commissioner YB Khurania said.
A henchman of the Dhal Samantas, Litu carried out their orders on regular basis. He was hired for executing extortions, murders and tender fixing assignments by the Dhal Samanta siblings, sources said.
On the other hand, one of the special units investigating the case has taken up the FIR registered on a complaint lodged by Manini Swain, wife of Omm Prakash, a former aide of the Dhal Samantas.
Manini has alleged that the duo had invited Omm for a meeting in November, 2013 after which he went missing. She could not reach him on phone as it remained switched off and all other means to reach Omm turned futile. “It is the Dhal Samanta brothers who killed my husband,” she said before Chauliaganj police where the FIR has been registered.
This apart, the police have been in touch with mineral raising firms, civil contractors and high profile businessmen who paid ‘protection money’ to the Dhal Samantas or suffered financial losses in big tenders which were apparently fixed by the siblings.
“We have sought permission for conducting polygraph tests on the accused duo and are confident to get the Court’s nod in a day or two. The tests would elicit clinching evidence and leads on whereabouts of their associates which would act as decisive factor in the ongoing probe,” Khurania added.