BARGARH : In a major haul, Bargarh police recovered 500 stolen LPG cylinders from an inter-state gang of thieves and arrested nine of its members on Monday.
The accused, Daniel Kerketta (27), Asish Singh (24), Debasish Senapati (26), Dileswar Parida (42), Sanjaya Pradhan (35) and Tapas Kumar Gartia (23), were involved in theft of cooking gas cylinders from various godowns. The rest three, Bibekananda Sahu (31), Firoj Khan (43) and Naresh Kumar Sahu (42), were receivers of the stolen cylinders. All the nine accused belong to different areas of Sambalpur city.
Police said on December 4 last year, one Sidhartha Shankar Panda of Attabira lodged a complaint alleging that unknown miscreants entered his authorised gas godown by breaking the door and assaulted the security guard. They decamped with 158 units of filled gas cylinders from the godown.
Basing on the complaint, police registered a case and formed three teams to nab the culprits. Raids were conducted at various places. After getting a reliable tip-off on Monday, Attabira police detained a vehicle laden with stolen gas cylinders while it was entering the district.
On verification, it was found that three of the accused were trying to escape to Sambalpur after committing theft of cylinders from a gas godown in Chhattisgarh. The accused were arrested and during interrogation, confessed to their involvement in several theft and dacoity cases. Subsequently, police arrested the rest six accused and seized the other stolen cylinders from their possession.
Police said the gang was involved in nine cases, mostly gas cylinder theft in different districts including Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Jharsuguda and Balangir besides bordering states.
Police also seized the vehicle in which the stolen cylinders were being transported, four iron rods, one cutter, eight mobile phones and a two-wheeler. The accused were booked under sections 457, 394 and 34 of the IPC and produced in court on Tuesday.