Balasore: Balasore district has become the new pasture land for juvenile offenders from Jharkhand as they make easy money by engaging in theft, loot and pick-pocketing, a report said.
The matter came to fore after Model police at Sahadevkhunta in this town arrested two minors from Jharkhand on charge of mobile phone theft Monday.
They were arrested over a complaint by a lawyer Raj Kishore Jena, Model police station IIC Subhranshu Nayak said. Jena was pick-pocketed by two minors when he was buying fruits from a roadside vendor at Phandi Square, a major commercial hub in this town, May 31.
Jena was picking the fruits when two minors arrived at the shop. While one of them bargained for the price of the fruit with the vendor, the second minor clandestinely stole Jena’s wallet. Jena after buying the fruits searched for his wallet but was left embarrassed when he did not find it.
Later, he visited the Model police station and lodged a complaint of theft of his wallet which had Rs 20,000. Police registered a case and launched an investigation on the basis of the CCTV footages at Phandi Square.
The juvenile duo was arrested when it was passing by the service road near the flyover bridge. Cash worth Rs 20,000 and 12 expensive smartphones were seized from its possession.
They were questioned in this connection and later produced before a juvenile justice board, Nayak added.
Police said scores of minor from Jharkhand between the age-group of 12 and 16 years arrive at various railway stations in Balasore district and engage themselves in theft, loot and pick-pocketing by spreading themselves in various areas of the district.
The minors before coming to Balasore make a list of the local festivals, opera shows going on at various places and crowded areas so as to facilitate their work in those places, police added. They spend nights at the railway stations and the rest rooms of bus-stands and steal and loot from people at an opportune time, police said.
They apply various tricks and modus operandi to pickpocket, steal cash, wallets, mobile phones, gold ornaments from people and break two-wheeler dickeys for theft.
The influx of the minors from Jharkhand has led to an increase in juvenile crimes in the district and become a challenge for the local police. They often manage to escape by trains before the police could lay their hands on them, police added.
PNN
