Sambalpur: Police Friday busted an inter-state robbers’ gang that boasted of an impressive network spreading across states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, besides being active in the state.
The gang was involved in several dacoity cases in these states, police said.
With the arrest of seven members of the gang, police have also foiled a major bank robbery which they were planning in the town, superintendent of police Akhileswar Singh said.
The accused were identified as Birendra Singh alias Veer of Jalandhar City, Jitendra Kumar Singh alias Jitu (27) and Ramaji Singh alias Ram (22) under Baria police limits, Naushad Ahmmad Ansari (23) under Banshadihi police limits in Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Azharuddin (28) and Bishal Singh (26) alias Sonbarsha Bholu and Santosh Kumar Bakdia (24) of Patna district in Bihar.
Police seized five country-made pistols, six .76 mm bullets, four .8 mm bullets, two cars, six ATM cards and Rs 5,000 cash from their possession. They were booked under several sections of the IPC and were produced in court. The accused were remanded in jail custody after their bail petitions were rejected, SP Singh said.
Speaking to the media at the conference hall here, the SP said a youth named Lal of Balia district of UP had sustained bullet injuries in his leg and was admitted to VIMSAR January 18. During questioning, he revealed that a gang of armed robbers is roaming around in the town in two cars planning to execute a bank robbery. The district police soon formed a special squad under the guidance of the SP to investigate the matter.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the robbers Thursday night from Kainshir Canal Chhak when they were making plans to loot Mannapuram Gold Loan Bank on Adarshmarg under Ainthapalli police limits.
The accused had looted a Honda City car from Jharsuguda January 17 and an Indica from Rupaspur of Bihar January 14. After the Jharsuguda incident, one of the accused inadvertently fired his gun leading to Lal sustaining a bullet injury in his leg. The other gang members fled the area after admitting Lal to VIMSAR, it was learnt.
They were also involved in two incidents of loot of filling stations in Bihar and Chhattisgarh, it was learnt. Similarly, they killed a gold trader of Bihar and looted a gramin bank of Bihar on the same day June 14, 2016, police said.
During interrogation, it came to light that accused Jitendra stayed in Sindurapanka area of Sambalpur district for eight years while Birendra spent some years in Berhampur and Bolangir. Birendra was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on his head by Punjab police. PNN
