BARGARH: Bargarh police on Wednesday arrested five persons in connection with a robbery that took place at the residence of a 70-year-old man in Bheden area in April this year.
Police said accused Dusmanta Meher (31), Balistha Seth (28), Bhubana Gartia (37), Jitendriya Banchhor (30) and Tushar Bhoi (25) - were arrested for looting Antarjami Meher’s house in Talburei village in the night on April 10. They entered Antarjami’s house, tied him and his wife, and looted valuables including cash and gold.
SDPO P Tripathy said before the robbery, the accused conducted a recce and met at a liquor shop near Rengalpali, owned by one of them, to plan the crime. Later, they reached Talburei village on two motorcycles.
Initially, two of them approached the house under various pretexts to check if anyone was present inside. Soon after, all five forcibly entered the house, tied up the couple with brown tape, and looted Rs 40,000 cash, over 25 gm gold jewellery, two mobile phones, a bank locker key and passbook.
Tripathy said on basis of the complaint lodged by Antarjami, police launched an investigation and arrested all the five accused.
A stolen gold necklace, Rs 40,000 cash and four mobile phones were recovered from them. Further investigation led to the recovery of around 29 gm of additional gold jewellery, which the accused had pledged at Bajaj Finance and Manappuram Gold Loan in Bargarh. The recovered items have been returned to the complainant through legal procedure.
Police said the accused were previously involved in multiple criminal cases under Bheden, Barpali, Bhatli, Sadar, and Town police stations. They were booked under sections 331 (4), 310 (2), 62, and 111 (4) of the BNS. Further investigation is underway.