Bhubaneswar: A tattoo on the palm of a miscreant, who along with three of his associates had robbed two businessmen of Rs 11 lakh and valuables in Shastri Nagar area here last month, helped the Commissionerate Police crack the case, Friday. Commissioner of Police Sanjeeb Panda said Somanath Jena, 31, Dipti Ranjan Baliarsingh alias Deepak, 31, Asish Kumar Dash, 25 and Smrutiranjan Sethi alias Bablu, 25, were arrested from a place under Info Valley police limits in the City. “`9.69 lakh of the looted cash and four two-wheelers have been recovered from the accused,” Panda said. He said Somanath, Dipti and Smrutiranjan are natives of Khurda, while Asish hails from Nayagarh.
Giving details of the case, Panda said City-based trader Udaya Bhanu Biswal would regularly visit a bank to exchange higher denomination notes, collected from retailers by his business partners, with smaller ones.
On March 30, Udaya’s partners – Sambhunath and Dharmendra – were on their way to the City on a bike after withdrawing Rs 11 lakh cash from SBI’s Chatrapur (Ganjam) branch when the foursome spotted them near Pitapalli area. “They gave Sambhunath and Dharmendra a chase on their bikes, before intercepting them in Shastri Nagar area. They then took away two bags containing the cash and their mobile phones by threatening them on knifepoint,” Panda added. He said during a brief scuffle with the foursome, the victims noticed the tattoo of a tiger face on the palm of one of the accused. Following the incident, a complaint was lodged at the Info Valley police station where the victims gave detailed statements.
Based on the information, the police scanned the CCTV footage collated from the area and rounded up some suspects. Based on the description given by the victims about the tattoo, the police identified one of the accused. His interrogation led to the arrest of other accused, Panda added. During further investigation, it was revealed that all four were repeat offenders and were arrested in at least five similar cases in the City in the past. “The accused were booked by the Info Valley police under Sections 329 and 34 of the IPC,” Panda said.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP
