Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police on Saturday busted an inter-state robbery gang, arresting eight persons and recovering Rs 3.51 crore of looted money from their possession, a senior officer said. Addressing a press conference here, DGP YB Khurania said that the eight accused persons hail from neighbouring Jharkhand, and besides the cash amount, arms and ammunition and vehicles used in the crimes were also recovered.
The arrested accused were identified as Tahir Ansari, Hussain Khan, Jasim Khan, Samim Ansari, Basudev Gope, Pintu alias Alim, Anuj Kumar and Samim Ansari from Ranchi district of Jharkhand. The arrests were made after a robbery incident took place on the night of January 30 in a country liquor factory at Dharmagarh in Kalahandi district of Odisha.
Eight armed miscreants entered the factory and allegedly threatened people working there. They looted a huge amount of cash from the liquor factory. A case was registered at Dharmagarh police station in this regard. The DGP said a special team was formed under the leadership of Kalahandi SP Abilash G to arrest the robbers and raids were conducted at various places.
After committing the robbery, the accused had fled in a van to Jharkhand. During initial investigation, Odisha Police arrested two accused persons from the state on January 30 and the vehicle used in the crime was identified and seized in Jharkhand. The police had received information that the other accused had fled towards Jharkhand. On January 31, the remaining accused were arrested in Jharkhand, the DGP said.
The DGP said that the police of 11 districts of Odisha and Jharkhand were involved in nabbing the gang. Apart from Kalahandi, the police forces of Bolangir, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Rourkela of Odisha and Gumla, Ranchi Rural, Lohardaga, West Singhbhum and Simdega districts of Jharkhand were involved in the operation, he said. The DGP said that the accused persons could be arrested due to proper coordination between the police forces of the two states.
