The local police here nabbed five members of a dacoit gang, which was operating in Nuapada and Bolangir districts for last few months by spreading a reign of terror.
The miscreants, all of whom belong to Balangir district, were identified as Barun Naik of Goindimal village, Sanju Jagat and Dasmu Bangola of Bahabal village, Rajin Khura of Malikdar and Samanta Sahu of Badgurjibhata villages.
They were involved in as many as five robbery incidents in Nuapada district in the last fortnight. The police had been tracking them since the first robbery took place on October 15 last in a liquor shop of Pendrawan under Komna police station, where they had snatched Rs 5,000 from the manager by terrorizing him. The gang subsequently was involved in a series of robberies. It entered into three other liquor shops at Gandabaheli under Sinapali police station and Kirkita and Risigaon under Khariar police station on October 19 night in three groups and burgled Rs 72,000 in total. The last dacoity was held on October 21 in the house of one Sarangadhar Panda of Kuligaon village in Khariar at about 7 pm where the dacoits had decamped with Rs 30,000 and 180 grams of gold by brandishing sharp weapons and a gun to the owner.
Nuapada SP Umashankar Das in a Press meet confirmed that there are more than 20 persons in the gang and two of them had been working in BSF and CRPF previously. “The gang members were using uniforms of Maoists as well as police during their operation and after the robbing the victims, fled the area immediately by using a bike and a jeep,” Das said.
A Bolero jeep (OR-03-G-8171) and a motorcycle (CG-04-CM 1349) were seized from the gang. Besides, 120 grams of gold, Rs 5,200 cash and five mobiles were recovered from the miscreants. The SP informed a search team consisting of Malaya Naik, IIC, Komna, Sadanand Purohit, IIC, Sinapali and Sibaram Sahu, IIC, Khariar under the leadership of the Santanu Das, SDPO of Khariar, had been formed to nab the culprits. “Getting tips from a reliable source, we swooped down on the gang in Bolangir district and nabbed five of them. Two kingpins, who belong to Jharkhand, however, were not there,” he informed.