Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 25: With the festival of Dussehra round the corner, there is a perceptible rise in cases of loot being reported across the state. This has got police worrying and mulling to chalk out strategies to contain the spiralling crime graph so as to ensure the festive season passes off peacefully.
Sources in the state police headquarters say a crackdown is being planned at the top rungs of the police administration and that supervisory duties will soon be assigned to senior officials. ADGP (Law & Order) Binayanand Jha said the state police will soon chalk out a comprehensive plan to maintain law and order in the state ahead of Dussehra.
“Every year ahead of Dussehra, we go through the database of the criminals. We also take stock of the current situation and accordingly chalk out a plan to maintain law and order in the state during the festival season,” he added.
The latest bank robbery in Sundargarh caused considerable worry in the state police administration. In a daring act of loot at a branch of Indian Bank in Sundargarh September 24 afternoon, five armed miscreants looted about `15 lakh and gold ornaments worth `20 lakh. The robbers also took the CCTV recorder along with them, thus leaving no recorded evidence of their crime in broad daylight.
Around six miscreants, including the driver, had arrived at around 2 PM on a jeep at the Indian Bank branch at Mission Square. While five of them entered the bank, the driver waited outside. The branch had no security guard present at the time.
In the capital city, too, a spate of loot incidents have occurred recently, presenting a poor picture of policing and the law and order situation.
Two bike-borne miscreants looted an accountant of a real estate firm near Damana Square under Chandrasekharpur police limits September 23. The victim, Sabyasachi Swain, an accountant with Raghupati Estate and Holding Private Limited in Cuttack, was robbed of `1.2 lakh he had withdrawn from IDBI Bank’s Damana branch. When he was crossing the road to board an auto-rickshaw, someone threw dirty water on him. When he stopped at a shop and purchased a water bottle to clean his dress, two bike-borne miscreants snatched away his bag containing the cash and sped away towards Saileshree Vihar.
The incident came two days after a collection agent was robbed of `12 lakh by two miscreants near Big Bazaar under Infocity police limits. This case is now being investigated by the special squad of the commissionerate police.
