Bhubaneswar/Kendrapara: The Special Task Force (STF) of Bhubaneswar Thursday arrested four hardcore criminals from Bolangir for planning armed robbery, said Satyajeet Nayak, SP of STF.
Addressing the press, DIG Himanshu Lal and SP Satyajeet Nayak said Thursday that after getting information from sources, the STF conducted a raid in Bolangir while the arrested four and one of their associates, who managed to escape, were planning an armed robbery.
The STF arrested the four hardcore criminals, including a henchman of gangster Tito, and seized a pistol, three rounds of live cartridges, two sharp-edged weapons and two iron rods, DIG Lal said.
The arrested men are Madhav alias Sachidananda Khuntia of Raniola of Cuttack district, Chagala alias Pradeep Nayak of Gokulpur, Pratap Chandra Sahu of Kulashree and Sayed Imtiaz Ali alias Sayed Rajak Ali of Malapada. Several cases are pending against all the arrested men.
The STF booked all the four arrested in STF case No: 17 dated 27/9/18 under Section 399, 402 of IPC and 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
The accused will be produced in a court and a hunt is on to nab their associate who escaped, said SP Nayak.
DIG Lal said Madhab alias Sachidananda Khuntia was a hardcore criminal involved in 137 cases. He is involved in murder, dacoity, kidnapping, bombing and extortion.
Madhab used to carry out his criminal activities in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Kendrapara, Bolangir and other districts. He is still an active member of Tito’s gang.
The DIG said he committed crimes for Tito, Sappo, Sk. Hyder, Raja Acharya, Anil Chhotaray and others. He also played a major role in expanding the crime empires of these history-sheeters.
Due to the fear created by the gangsters many offences committed by Madhab have gone unreported. Since some days he was hiding in Bhubaneswar and was operating his crime syndicates, said the DIG.
As a henchman of Tito and other gangsters, Madhab used to issue threats to contractors and builders in Cuttack, Kendrapara and Bhubaneswar and extort money from them.
During interrogation it was established that Madhab was planning to hurl bombs at some construction sites in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to threaten contractors and builders who were not obeying his order to pay.
Recently, his extortion business had peaked as the puja season was nearing.
Madhab was involved in 137 cases, which according to STF might be the highest number of cases committed by an individual in the state and possibly in the country.
Madhab, who took to crime 29 years ago, committed 35 crimes as an associate of Tito, 12 as an associate of Anil Chhotray, 28 as an associate of Sk.Hyder, 38 as an associate of Raja Acharya and 14 for Sappo, SP Satyajeet Nayak said.
PNN
