A spate of loots in the last 24 hours has now forced the city residents to ponder whether Bhubaneswar has turned into the crime capital of the State and whether they can trust the Commissionerate police to protect their lives and properties.
Just hours after two loots shocked the city on Tuesday morning, another robbery was reported from the capital city in the evening, where five bike-borne masked miscreants armed with pistols and swords attacked the owner of a used car showroom near the Puri bypass road and snatched a gold chain from him.
The owner managed to save his life by hiding himself in the office, but two customers, who had come to purchase a car, sustained grievous injuries during the loot bid as the anti-socials snatched Rs 2 lakh from them in the car showroom by attacking them with swords.
Later late night, two armed miscreants attacked Trupti Hotel owner Bulu Samantaray near the Rasulgarh Pala Mandap and snatched cash worth Rs 50,000, a gold chain, a bracelet by hacking him with swords when he was returning home.
Hearing his screams some local youths of Rasulgarh village rushed to his rescue and the attackers fled from the spot. Samantray was rushed to a private hospital with critical injuries.
Earlier in the day, panic gripped the Gadakona area in the city after unidentified miscreants looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables from a couple by brandishing guns and other lethal weapons..
In another incident, a retired bank employee was targeted by miscreants while he was out on a morning walk at Adimata Colony. The robbers snatched his gold ring at gunpoint.
Sources said as many as 10 cases of loot and robbery have been reported in Bhubaneswar in the last one month raising concerns about the deteriorating law and order situation in the city.
On Wednesday, protesting the rising crimes in the city, especially the attack and loot incident from the owner of Trupti Hotel, hundreds of local residents staged a road blockade at Rasulgarh Square disrupting vehicular movement on the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack National Highway.
Police Commissioner Satyajit Mohanty and DCP Anup Sahu rushed to the spot and assured the agitators that the culprits would be nabbed soon, following which normalcy was restored.