The Commissionerate police on Wednesday foiled a plan to free notorious criminal Rabi Rao from police custody by arresting five of his gang members.
The arrestees were identified as SK Amin, Raghu Biswal, Sibu Thakur, Motibulla and Pabitra Mohan Das.
Police have also seized one revolver, five live ammunition, five mobile phones, one toy pistol, three sharp weapons and one chilli powder packet from their possession. All the accused are residents of Kharavel Nagar.
City DCP Anup Sahoo said the accused were planning to attack police and free Rao when he was produced in court. “For this purpose, they snatched a motorcycle from Chandaka. They too contacted an arms dealer to procure guns. They also confessed that they had earlier conducted a recce of the jail and court premises several times,” said Sahoo.
Rao was arrested in August in an encounter with police. He was the leader of the gang, which had carried out a series of robberies in the city. He is presently cooling his heels in the Jharpada Special Jail.
“Two of the accused held today were also involved in the series of crimes committed by the Rao gang. We are further verifying the antecedents of the accused and carrying out further investigations,” added DCP Sahoo.