Incidents of pick-pocketing and snatching of gold ornaments have been increasing in a few pockets of Brahmapur city, including at the world famous festive site of Maa Thakurani Yatra.
In spite of heavy deployment of police as well as installation of CCTV in the festive pendal site, Rs1lakh was looted from the vanity bag of a female devotee while offering prayer to Goddess Thakurani near the temporary abode of the deity.
Sources said Swapnarani Patra of Madhusudan Nagar under Kharvel Nagar Police Station in Bhubaneswar, accompanied by her husband V Kuresu Patra, had visited Brahmapur to witness the famous Thakurani festival.
They had Rs1lakh cash which the couple had brought with them for marketing and darshan.Patra was offering prayer before the deity, when her money was stolen from her vanity bag.
After darshan of the deity, the couple found that the bag in which the money had been kept was stolen. Immediately, they lodged a complaint in the Big Bazar police station. After receiving the complaint, police started an investigation. However, nobody was arrested yet.
Similarly, loot incidents also took place in Gandhinagar, Gate Bazar, New Bus Stand, Ashok Nagar, Sidhartha Nagar, Bank Colony, Ramalingam Tank Road, Old Brahmapur and Gajapati Nagar area. Besides, regular incidents of eve-teasing, chain snatching and rash driving by intoxicated youth have also been causing a menace for the local residents.
According to the intellectual circle, police patrolling in the city has been a mere eyewash as miscreants have been openly consuming liquor in the Old Bus Stand, Ramalingam Tank Road, Goutam Hall Road, Gandhinagar Square, Girija Square, Corporation Road and several other places.
On Tuesday last, looters stole golden ornaments, four cell phones, and cash of Rs17,000 from the house of retired employee of Revenue Department Apurba Kumar Majhi by breaking open the iron grill and the door of his house in Neelakantha Nagar (Brit colony). They also attacked Majhi and left him injured. The Gosaninuagam police are yet to zero in on the culprits.
On Saturday last, a gang of anti-socials attempted to loot a SBI-ATM machine located in Gandhinagar Main Road in the heart of the city.
The gang reportedly hurled stones and broke the ATM cabin glasses. However, when the guard on duty shouted, the culprits managed to escape unnoticed, said the guard.
Ironically, on Wednesday night last, some anti socials reportedly threw country made bombs at the house of the owner of Janata Rice Mill in Gosaninuagam area creating panic among the denizens.
Two anti-socials came in a motor bike and threw bombs at the house of the rice mill owner.