Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police busted a highway robbers’ gang that was preparing to rob some commuters on the National Highway at Pitapalli Chowk near Janla outpost late Saturday night.
The robbers were identified as Satyaranjan Behera alias Jitu, 29, of Naharakanta under Mancheswar police station limits, Anil Ojha, 27, of Gopalpur village in Balikuda area of Jagatsighpur, Pratap Kishore Parida alias Balia, 19, of Puri and Md Wahidul Malida alias Aryan, 26, of the Muslim Basti at Sikharchandi in Infocity police station limits here.
Balia, reportedly a student of Diploma in Engineering, was the mastermind of the gang.
According to sources, the accused persons used to follow a unique modus operandi in robbing their victims. They would first intercept the commuters on cars and motor-cycles on the highway. Later, they decamped with their mobile phones along with the wallets and purses containing their ATM Debit cards after threatening them with sharp weapons.
Subsequently, the miscreants, with the help of ATM cards, withdrew money from the bank accounts of the victims through popular digital wallet platform.
Meanwhile, they used the mobile phone of the victim in order to get the secret OTPs for withdrawal of the money.
The patrolling team of the Janla outpost encountered the miscreants who were planning to loot a commuter late Saturday night. They swung into action and got hold of the accused persons while one of their aides succeeded in giving the cops a slip.
Police produced the accused persons in court after registering a case (226/19) Sunday. The court sent them to judicial custody after rejecting their bail pleas.
