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Cuttack: Incidents of tricksters looting cash and valuables from scores of people have witnessed a rise in Kandarpur area here, but police action in this regard has been unsatisfactory.
People coming out of banks and ATMs after withdrawing cash are feeling unsafe as there are chances of falling prey to the anti-socials’ tricks. Though the police claim to have made every effort to nab the miscreants, the result has not been desirable so far, it was alleged.
In a recent incident, two unidentified miscreants robbed a woman of Rs 77,000 near Kandarpur Bazar on Paradip road in an innovative way. The victim, Padmabati Barik, a resident of Parabil in Sadar police limits, was on her way home after withdrawing the cash from the State Bank of India (SBI) Kandarpur branch Wednesday when two bike-borne miscreants intercepted her near the market. They diverted her attention by telling her that there were some mud spots on her saree. When Barik was removing the spots from her saree at a public standpost, the desperadoes snatched away the wallet containing the cash.
Barik lodged a complaint with the police, who registered a case (74/17) Thursday morning. “We have examined the footage of the CCTVs installed at the bank. The criminals might have followed Barik from the bank,” Kandarpur inspector in-charge (IIC) Ranjan Kumar Sethy said.
In a similar incident, Anam Charan Jena, a senior citizen of Shankarpur village, was also victimised by the miscreants. Jena was returning home after withdrawing his pension from an ATM here a few months back, when two bike-borne miscreants waylaid him at a lonely place and decamped with the hand bag containing the cash.
Moreover, unidentified miscreants made away with Rs 50,000 from Baidyanath Jena, owner of a makeshift eatery, while he was withdrawing cash from an SBI ATM at Kandarpur Bazaar a few months back.
Although miscreants have unleashed terror in the area by looting several people, mostly women and elderly, the police are yet to nab them.
Some of the victims report the cases to the police with due description about the criminal, but many other cases go unreported as victims want to avoid legal wrangles involved therein, a resident of Kandarpur said. PNN