SAMBALPUR: The daring daylight heist at Manappuram Finance on the busy Budharaja-Fatak main road in Ainthapali has exposed poor policing in Sambalpur city.
Visuals of the armed miscreants openly moving with bags containing cash and gold ornaments before fleeing on their bikes have raised serious posers on police response as they decamped with 30 kg gold and Rs 4 lakh without any difficulty whatsoever.
As per the statement issued by the finance company, the value of stolen assets is estimated at Rs 20 crore.
Following the incident, IG (northern range) Himanshu Lal and SP Mukesh Bhamoo reached the spot and launched an investigation. While security around the area was heightened, police interrogated the staff and collected CCTV footage. Check posts were setup and vehicle checking was carried out during the night.
On the day, inspectors of four police limits were engaged in investigation and the interrogation continued. CCTV footages revealed that five people were involved in the heist. Multiple teams have been formed and sent to other places for raids. So far, police have not made any headway in the sensational dacoity.
While police continued to be tight-lipped over the matter, the incident triggered severe resentment among local residents as multiple financial institutions as well as a number of jewellery shops dot the Budharaja area.
Despite being a sensitive area, no patrolling team was deployed at any common point. Police sources agreed that no common surveillance cameras are installed in the area apart from the CCTV cameras at the finance company office.
The chaotic vehicular traffic in the entire stretch of the city also contributed to the criminals escaping with ease. While condition of roads is bad, the area witnesses a huge surge of vehicular movement due to which police is occupied in regulating the traffic. While there are multiple alternative roads leading to the highway, the monitoring of movement on those routes are not strong.
Meanwhile, many customers who reached the finance office on Saturday had a harrowing time upon learning their mortgaged assets have been looted. A 70-year-old customer narrated his ordeal: “I had mortgaged 40 gram gold and taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh. While I had come to settle my loan today, I learnt the gold has been stolen. They are not even communicating clearly and asking us to cooperate.”
Another woman who had mortgaged around 30 gram of gold came to release the asset for her daughter’s wedding in April. However, the office staff asked her to wait stating they would compensate in cash if the gold ornaments could not be recovered. “The dacoity happened completely due to lack of security. I have come here many times in last one year but have never seen a guard deployed outside,” she said.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the gold financing company assured that the affected customers of the branch would be compensated by the company.