Kendrapara: With the arrest of Batu alias Batakrushna Pani, (45), a close aide of gangster Tito, the STF has established the latter’s links with Bangladesh and its illegal cattle trade.
Batu, a resident of Kusapalla under Begunia police station of Khurda district, staying at K4 LIG, plot No-280, of Tamando in Bhubaneswar, allegedly smuggled cattle to Bangladesh via Kolkata and Tripura.
He used to smuggle cattle to Bangladesh for Tito every month to meet the high demand for beef in the neighbouring country. Tito used to earn good bucks with the help of Batu from cattle smuggling to other states and Bangladesh.
Tito started the cattle smuggling trade from Odisha to Bangladesh as the cost of cattle in the neighbouring country is more than in the state, said STF sources.
Tito had links with Bangladesh for a decade. After release from Kendrapara jail in 2004, he had left Kendrapara and settled in Kolkata with the help of a person from Ganjam district. There he came in contact with Viswanath Sarkar, a prawn mafia man, and resident of the seaside Namakanda in the Sunderbans.
As Sarkar used to come regularly to Odisha to take prawn from Jamboo and Kharnashi in Kendrapara district, Tito managed to develop a good relationship with him.
With the help of Sarkar he purchased a flat costing Rs 3.50 lakh at Belur in 2004 and later opened a stationery shop from a rented house in Kharda market, a suburb of Kolkata. Later, Tito started controlling his crime world especially the tender business from Kolkata with the help of his brother Chitto, Sappo and Hyder.
During Tito’s stay in West Bengal he used to escape from Belur to the Bangladesh border via the sea whenever he felt threatened by the police.
In the past, he had taken shelter at Metiaburz and Canning in Kolkata, to evade arrest as the areas are a safe haven for criminals. Most criminals from Orissa, Kolkata and Bangladesh take shelter in the area, STF sources said.
During his stay he developed a good rapport with Bangladeshis and managed to start cattle smuggling with the help of Batu by striking a deal with some unscrupulous police officials, the sources added.
STF quizzes 2 engineers
Kendrapara: After remaining silent for more than a fortnight in gangster Tito’s case, the STF started investigation once again. A two-member STF team, led by DSP Bilasini Nayak, visited Kendrapara district Friday and asked senior officials of the engineering department to face inquiry.
Nayak quizzed Nalinikant Senapati, executive engineer of RD-1, Bidyabhusan Nayak, executive engineer of Lift Irrigation, Kendrapara and a contractor of Purusottampur village, Ranjan Kumar Samal, and asked them to remain present at SDPO’s office in Kendrapara.
The STF also questioned the officials concerned as to how tender fixing was made by Tito and his associates and collected information about the contract works taken up by these people in the officials’ respective departments.
STF inspector Sabitri Acharya examined the complainants of STF Case No-10 at the SDPO office and collected information and evidence.
Unable to get justice from the local police, Gobinda Chandra Mohanty, a resident of Fatehpur under Kujanga police station limits, Sarojini Mishra of Kujanga and others lodging an FIR with STF, Bhubaneswar alleging Tito and his associates occupied landed property of 36 gunthas, worth Rs 1.44 crore, on NH 5(A) side near Gopa Chowk and stocked construction materials there.
STF registered a case against Tito, Kamalakanta Chaini, Muna, Sappo, Dilsad Ali, Chitto, Bapu, Fazaz Khan and 15 others. Four persons, including Tito, have been arrested in the case.
In the evening, the STF team collected information from the sub-collector’s office.
PNN
