Six goons, including a notorious criminal, were arrested while they were planning a dacoity here near the laxminarayan Temple in Unit-4 on Tuesday night.
Police seized a country-made revolver, three rounds of live ammunition and 2,565 packets of cigarette, all worth `4 lakh; 17 mobile phones, a gold locket, a gold ring, two gold chains, 19.4 gm of gold, two laptops, a TVS Apache motorcycle, an Indica Vista Car and sharp weapons from their possession.
The accused were identified as Hemanta Dash (49) of Old Town under the ligaraj police station, P Rajesh Rao (21) alias linga of Chintamaniswar and Pravat Kumar Parasad alias Chhotu (28) of Haladipadia slum under the laxmisagar police station, Jitu Palai (29) of Goutam Nagar slum under the Badagada police station, Rabi Rao (19) of Shantinagar under the Kharvel Ngar police station and Alekh Sahoo (26) of Nuagaon under the Chhendipada police station in Angul district. They all were forwarded to court.
Acting on a tipoff, the Quick Action Team (QAT) and Special Squad of the Commissionerate police raided a deserted place near the laxminarayan Temple and arrested the six criminals while one Sukadev Behera alias Suka (25) managed to flee from the spot.
“So far, we have found involvement of Hemanta in 65 cases like burglary in various police stations in Bhubaneswar and also in Cuttack, Puri, Angul and Kendrapada districts while two NBWs are pending against him since last few years. Similarly, the other five persons have more than two cases each against them in various police stations in the State,” Commissioner of Police Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma told mediapersons here.
The operation was carried out as part of the Operation Black Smoke, which has been launched by the Commissionerate police to check flow of illegal firearms and curb criminal and antisocial activities in the city, said the CP.