Rourkela: A special squad of police Saturday arrested eight persons including a gang of six robbers here who had unleashed a spell of terror in the city over last five months.
They were identified as main accused Prabhat Tiwari of Gangadharpali, Ashutosh Jha of DAV Lane, Nabin Gupta of Nayabazar in Sector-21, Mandira alias Sayun Soy of Railway Colony, Rajesh Singh of Uditnagar and Birsa Munda of Shankarbahal of Jharsuguda.
Police also arrested two goldsmiths – Adhir Karmakar of Old Station Road and Prahlad Prasad of Anand Bhawan lane – for buying the stolen gold jewellery from the accused. About 200 gm of gold, 2.5 kg silver, Rs1.25 lakh, a gun , two daggers, eight mobile handsets and two motor cycles were seized from their possession, DSP PK Mishra told the media at a press meet. Besides, some important items like computer hard disks and mobile SIM cards were thrown by them into the water bodies to destroy evidence, the DSP added. Some of the robbers are students of engineering and government colleges, he further said.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that mastermind of the robberies Babu Khan of Jharkhand and his five aides are on the run.
According to reports, the gang started hatching plans in March to go for major robberies in the city and the members roped in Babu Khan of Jamshedpur to make their plans successful. Prabhat took a room on rent at Gangadharpali for the purpose.
During day time, these youths used to identify the houses of the traders, industrialists and other wealthy persons. They collect information from maids after knocking their doors in the guise of air-conditioner mechanics. Accordingly, they force their way into the targeted houses with arms and decamp with valuables. The accused used to spend the looted money lavishly at Kolkata, according to the police.
The major robberies that shook the city during last few months included – residences of Anurag Ekka in Sector 9, iron trader Sunil Agrawal of Civil Township, trader Deepak Jalan of Industrial Estate, Sanjay Agrawal of Industrial Estate, trader Babuli Nayak of Sector-1 and MD Iliyas of Koida.
A special team was formed under the leadership of DSP Mishra to nab the culprits and its members had gone to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar to collect information about the robbers.
Others who have been on the run would be arrested soon, the DSP said. PNN