Patnagarh: Police Saturday arrested a gang of seven looters which has unleashed a reign of terror in and around Patnagarh sub-division in Bolangir district.
A pistol, a sharp-edged weapon, five mobile phones, four motor bikes and Rs 40,000 in cash were seized from them.
The accused, natives of Bolangir and Bargarh districts, were identified as Sudarshan Kumbhar (26), Chudamani Nag (37) alias Rabi, Kalia Nag (27), Mohan Nag (24), Rinku Seth (25), Yuvaraj Kathar (23) and Rajkumar Thapa (30). Their arrest was announced at a press meet here Saturday by sub-divisional police officer Seshdev Bariha, IIC Barini Das and sub-inspector RK Bhujabal.
The culprits, involved in a series of lootings, were mostly targeting self-help group members and officials of private finance and micro-finance companies carrying large amounts of money.
In a recent incident, they had attacked an official of L&T Finance and decamped with lakhs of rupees he had collected from borrowers. In another case, a petrol pump owner was robbed near the Utkal Gramya Bank by the gang.
PNN