Bhadrak: Bhadrak rural police Friday arrested two local men who set a car on fire at Marpur village under Bhadrak rural police limits October 13 suspecting the vehicle owner to be a police informer.
The accused men have been identified as Kanishka Mallick and Nanda Mallick. Both the accused have many cases pertaining to coal theft pending in their names at various police stations of the district, local cops said.
Police said the arrest was made after scanning the footage from the CCTV camera installed at the house of victim Pratap Behera.
The accused duo burnt the car of Pratap as they suspected him of informing the police regarding the address of coal mafias.
It may be mentioned here that it has been common practice for the coal mafias here to pilfer coal from running coal-carrying trains on Bhadrak-Dhamra railway line even in broad daylight. Roadside eateries and brick kiln owners are the main buyers of these stolen coals.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of RPF police conducted raids at places near Ichhapur Monday. During the operation, the officials had allegedly asked Pratap Behera to show them the places where the pilferage takes place to which he had obliged. This raised the thieves’ heckles and to teach Behera a lesson, they set Pratap’s car on fire late October 13 night.
Pratap, meanwhile, had lodged an FIR with the police in this regard following which the accused men were nabbed.