Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Fresh trouble mounted on former MLA Ramesh Jena (Cong), as quick action team (QAT) and Mancheswar police station officials March 13 evening nabbed four miscreants, one of them has close links with the political leader, from Kesura River bank while they were planning to commit dacoity in the area.
The police identified the miscreants as Santosh Kumar Behera (23) of Purusottampur in Ganjam district, Manoranjan Kumar Khatua alias Manu (26) of Naharkanta, Alok Behera alias Chandan (24) of Patharabandha Basti, and Babuna Biswal alias Kabi (24) of Banki in Cuttack district.
“We recovered Jena’s photo from Santosh’s mobile phone. We recovered the photo of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim from his phone. Santosh considered Jena as his mentor, and he used to compare him with Dawood. At least 30 cases have been registered against Santosh, including one of murder and two cases of attempting to murder,” Mancheswar police said.
“We have recovered the photo of a person, from Santosh’s mobile phone, having a cross mark on it. Santosh and Manoranjan used to attend classes at Utkal Karate Institute here. We have ascertained criminal antecedents of the duo, and we are investigating about the other miscreants. Manoranjan was arrested earlier for killing his wife,” the police added.
Sources said Santosh used to visit Jena’s quarters here.
“Police have recovered photos which depicted Santosh standing close to Jena’s vehicle registered in Haryana (HR-12L-001), which was seized by the Berhampur police at Pahal,” they added.
QAT officials said two the gang members fled the scene against whom a search operation has been launched. “We have recovered a bhujali, a Bajaj Pulsar 220 motorcycle (without registration number) and an auto-rickshaw, from them,” Mancheswar police station IIC Himanshu Bhusan Swain said.
“We found that Santosh’s parents are languishing in jail in connection with a murder case. We are investigating the matter,” he added.
Berhampur Police, who had earlier arrested Jena, reached Mancheswar police to question Santosh about his links with the former MLA.
Sources said Berhampur police quizzed Santosh about two former members of Jena’s gang Ravindra Behera alias Raju and Gupteswar Padhy alias Ricky who allegedly died April, 3, 2013 in a road accident.
Berhampur police suspect the duo was killed over a personal dispute and Santosh had a role in the incident. Meanwhile, Berhampur police have seized another car (OR-07-T-2999) of Jena from Pahala area here.
