CUTTACK: Salepur police on Thursday busted an inter-district burglary gang, arresting 10 people and recovering valuables worth crores of rupees.
The articles seized from the accused included stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 1.40 crore, silver ornaments worth Rs 8 lakh and Rs 61,600 cash. Two luxury cars, as many walkie-talkies and several tools used for committing theft were recovered during the operation.
Briefing mediapersons, Cuttack SP (Rural) Vinit Agrawal said the gang comprised two notorious criminals Rajesh Khuntia and Sushant Swain and eight receivers, six of whom are jewellery shop owners in Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur district.
While 47 cases are pending against Khuntia, 28 are pending against Swain. The gang operated in Cuttack, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts.
“We have seized around 925 gram of gold ornaments, silver ornaments weighing 3.1 kg, Rs 61,600 cash, one Mahindra Thar, one Ford Figo, two walkie-talkies, one iron angle, one iron flat bar (used to break open the lock), two torch lights, two screw drivers, two cutters and two mobile phones so far,” said Agrawal.
He said the gang had purchased the two cars from the crime proceeds and used them during the burglaries. “Members of the burglary gang are very skilled. They generally targeted locked houses and used walkie-talkies while keeping their mobile phones switched off while committing the crime,” the police officer said.
The matter came to light after one Gurucharan Pal of Natakai village under Nischintakoili police limits lodged a complaint alleging his house had been burgled.
Acting on the complaint, a special police team led by Salepur SDPO Biranchi Narayan Pati launched an investigation and successfully busted the gang.