CUTTACK: Commissionerate police on Friday recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition including 16 sophisticated pistols and over 1,095 rounds of bullets from the house of gangster brothers Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samanta at CDA here.
Notorious as D-brothers, the gangsters are in jail since 2016. The recovery of the arms and ammunition lends credence to the allegations that they continue to be active in running their crime syndicate from behind bars.
The seized arms and ammunition include 13 numbers of 9mm pistols, three 7.65mm pistols, 1,095 live bullets of different types, 24 magazines along with 16 mobile phones and four bikes. Police have also arrested eight persons in connection with the illegal arms supply racket which is also a part of the crime network of the gangster siblings.
Briefing mediapersons, Commissioner of Police, Sudhanshu Sarangi said, a raid was conducted basing on the information shared by an arms peddler Prakash Behera, who was arrested by a special team of Choudwar Police on Thursday. Prakash of Sheikh Bazaar was earlier arrested for his links with D-brothers in 2016. Out on bail, he had again got involved in supplying arms to local gangs and criminals in the city.
Acting on a tip off, Choudwar police nabbed Prakash near Birupa Barrage and recovered two pistols from his possession. During interrogation, Prakash revealed that he was to sell the weapon to one Sarat Sethi alias Budhia of Deula Sahi area of the city. Sarat was then apprehended. He disclosed that Prakash was supplying him arms and ammunitions for the last five years under instructions of the brothers.
Prakash also revealed that he had supplied fire arms and ammunition to gang members in Jagatsinghpur and other parts of Cuttack district.He also disclosed that the arms and ammunition were kept in a wooden cell concealed within the walls of the house of Dhal Samantas. Acting on his information, the special team of police broke open wooden secret chambers concealed beneath the staircase and also behind the interior designs in the house to recover the guns, bullets and other weapons.
“We suspect more firearms might be hidden within the interiors of the house. Despite being in prison, the duo are reorganising their gang and supplying arms to their associates to carry out crime. We will bring both Sushanta and Sushil in remand for further investigation into their crime network”, Commissioner Sarangi said.
The D-brothers, who had established their criminal empire between 2009 and 2016, were involved in extortion, tender fixing, sand smuggling and gun running. In 2016, they were arrested in the high profile double murder case of their ex-associates Dipu and Omm with seizure of 23 guns including one prohibited carbine, seven imported cars and cash of over `6.27 crore from their house. The brothers have 29 cases against them of which two have ended in conviction and rest are pending trial.