KEONJHAR/JEYPORE/BERHAMPUR: Following the directive of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to crackdown on middlemen, Keonjhar police on Friday arrested 10 brokers, four from the district headquarters hospital (DHH) and the remaining six from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) here.
Keonjhar Town IIC Somanath Jena said the middlemen arrested from the DHH were influencing patients, who were referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack, to avail treatment in different private hospitals in Bhubaneswar.
They were identified as Babuli Mallick, Santosh Sahu and Ranjan Naik, all residents of Keonjhar Town, besides Raju Sahoo of Jajpur.
Similarly, the brokers arrested from Keonjhar RTO were collecting money from people on pretext of providing them vehicle documents. They are Bhabani Jena, Prasanta Kumar Bebarta, Sapan Kumar Sahoo, Manmath Barik, Sarat Chandra Kar and Umakanta Mahanta.
In Koraput, police arrested a broker from Borrigumma for cheating people over vehicle documents. He was identified as Srinivas Patnaik. Police said Patnaik collected money from vehicle owners to renew and issue driving licence and registration certificates but did not provide the same to them.
On the day, Berhampur police also arrested four middlemen from MKCG Medical College and Hospital for diverting patients to private clinics. Police said the four were influencing patients and their attendants to avail treatment in private clinics. Besides, they were also demanding money for providing medicines.
Police in plain clothes would be deployed at hospitals, blood banks and RTO in Ganjam district to nab the touts, said SP Brijesh Kumar Roy after a crime review meeting at Chhatrapur.