ROURKELA: Police on Monday arrested a member of an interstate gang which is reportedly involved in a series of robbery cases in Rourkela.
Police said the accused, Rajesh Anthony alias David (32) of Rourkela’s MS Marg, served as the gang’s local scout. He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the theft of Rs 5 lakh from a retired police constable outside the SBI’s Sector-19 branch in Rourkela on January 9.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said the gang was active across Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. All five key members of the gang hail from Katihar city in Bihar. “A special investigation team reviewed over 30 similar thefts reported from Jharkhand and West Bengal, analysed CCTV footage from multiple states and tracked the gang’s cell phone activities to confirm their involvement in multiple robberies,” he said.
During investigation of the Rs 5 lakh loot case, Rourkela police with assistance from their Bihar counterparts raided the homes of the accused in Katihar and recovered the stolen money. However, the accused could not be nabbed during the raids.
The SP said the gang targeted individuals withdrawing large amounts of money from banks. One gang member would stay inside the bank to identify potential victims. After zeroing in on a target, he would signal his accomplice positioned outside the bank. The message would then be relayed to other gang members waiting on motorcycles to execute the loot.
Wadhwani said after committing three to four loot incidents in quick successions in a district, the gang members would send the stolen money to their homes and lay low. Subsequently, they would move to a different location and resume their thefts.
Rajesh was arrested and produced in court. Further investigation is underway to nab other members of the gang, he added.
Sources said Rajesh has six criminal cases pending in Plant Site police station and one in Rourkela Government Railway Police (GRP) station.