Bhubaneswar: Puri Police have arrested four people and recovered gold and silver ornaments and cash looted from a vehicle in the district, an officer said Tuesday.
Armed miscreants had intercepted a vehicle transporting cash, gold, and silver of a jewellery shop on the Chandanpur-Samjajpur over-bridge on the morning of November 20 and looted the valuables worth Rs 78.96 lakh before fleeing from the spot.
On the basis of a complaint lodged by Sanjay Kumar Das, proprietor of the jewellery shop, a case has been registered at Chandanpur police station.
The Puri Police launched a special operation named ‘White Metal’ to nab the accused persons, said Satyajit Naik, DIG of police, central range.
Intensive raids carried out across multiple hideouts led to the arrest of the four suspects December 1 and 2, he said.
The police have arrested four people, including Tuku Nayak, the owner of another jewellery shop in the Chandanpur area, who is also the mastermind behind the theft, the police said.
The other arrested persons have been identified as Prasant Pradhan, M Goutham and Subhrajit Mohanty (22), an MBA student.
“We have recovered 132 grams of gold, 31 kg of silver and Rs 6 lakh cash from the accused persons,” the DIG said.
The police also seized one car, a bike, mobiles, one pistol, magazine & two live rounds recovered, he said.
However, three other accused persons involved in the crime are still absconding. Efforts are on to nab the remaining accused persons, the police said.