DEOGARH: Deogarh police on Saturday arrested 12 members of a dacoity gang for their alleged involvement in several incidents in Kundeigola in the district.
The accused are Harihar Sahu, Chaitanya Behera, Shankar Acharya, Debasish Sahu, Khirod Swain, Sunil Maharana, Sanjay Mahar, Panchanan Behera, Dilip Kumar Sahu, Amit Naik of Angul and Subharaj Naik of Dhenkanal. Besides Suresh Naik of Angul was arrested for buying stolen items from the gang. Police also seized two pick-up vans, a car and a bike used by the accused along with Rs 5,300 in cash, nine mobile phones and some weapons.
As per reports, on the night of August 22, the accused had entered the stockyard of a contracting agency at Gariapali village and looted several items after tying up the hands and feet of the security guard. Following the incident, the owner of the agency filed a complaint at Kundeigola police station. Later, on August 30, the accused broke open the transformer at Jualibhanga village and stole copper wire.
Deogarh SDPO, Soumyaranjan Mallick said, “Some of the accused have already been booked in other cases in the past. Further investigation is underway to ascertain for how long they have been involved in the crimes.”