Of the Rs 28 lakh stolen from a prawn godown at Malud in Chilika under the Krushna Prasad police station limits, the police have recovered Rs 18 and arrested three in this connection.
SP Asish Kumar Singh presented the accused persons before the mediapersons on Wednesday and said on November 4 last, one BalunkeswarBiswal of Malud had lodged an FIR at the Krushna Prasad police station regarding the theft from his prawn godown.
Inspector Jaidip Mohanty had registered a case and started an investigation. Since the lock of the godown’s main gate was normal and there was no sign of force-entry into godown, the police suspected involvement of insiders or persons with close links with the godown.
During the investigation, the driver of the complainant Biswal confessed to have committed the crime.
Three others including a former driver of Biswal and an auto rickshaw driver were also involved. As per plan, they prepared a duplicate key of the godown and on October 31 night while the watchman was on leave they opened the godown and looted the cash from the godown office located on the upstairs and locked the godown gate as before. The four distributed money among them while the mastermind took a lion’s share of Rs 6.5 lakh. They all maintained low profiles.
None suspected their involvement in the crime. Biswal came to know of the loot when he opened the almirah and found the cash missing. Soon, he lodged a complaint with the police.
The accused persons were identified as driver Kuna Mahapatra (28) of Hasinpur, former driver Gouranga Mahapatra (23) of Maleswar and auto driver Nilu Palei (22) of Alipur under the Krushnaprasad police station limits. Investigating officer Mohanty said the accused persons had kept their share of booty in their houses and were leading a normal routine life. The police recovered the cash from their houses.
However, the mastermind of the loot was absconding. Efforts are on to nab him, the SP said.