Bhubaneswar: Acting on a tip-off, the Commissionerate police Tuesday evening arrested two persons on charges of looting Rs 40 lakh from an ATM cash van.
Police identified the two accused as Ratikant Rout (44) and Ajit Kumar Sen (28). Ratikant is the driver of a cash management agency and Ajit Kumar Sen is his relative.
They have been booked under Sections 469 and 407 of the IPC and produced in a local court, which remanded them to judicial custody.
The police also seized duplicate keys of the vehicle’s lock and cash box, cash carrier vehicle and three mobile phones from their possession. The duo looted the van during transit between SBI main branch and an ATM counter near SUM Hospital.
According to sources, a cash management agency collected cash of Rs 2.58 crore from the main branch of SBI Unit-1for being loaded cash in different ATMs November 5 and while they were proceeding to the SUM Hospital ATM, the custodians Gobinda Behera and S. Shiba Dora noticed that they were short of Rs 40 lakh.
The manager of the cash management agency lodged a complaint regarding the matter in Capital police station. The matter is being jointly investigated by the Special Squad.
Similarly, a joint team of Begunia police and a special squad Wendesday detained three persons involved in the loot of Rs 60 lakh from the officials of a private finance company November 8 in Khurda.
According to sources, a cash bag containing Rs 27 lakh was recovered from the backyard of a house owned by the relative of one of the accused.
While Central Range IG Soumendra Priyadarshi, Khurda Superintendent of Police, Sub-Divisional Police Officer and Begunia police station in-charge were present at the spot, raids were conducted at different locations by the joint team of cops.
As per latest reports, all the detained persons are currently being interrogated at Begunia police station. On the day of the loot, four armed miscreants had robbed Rs 60 lakh from the officials of the private company who were travelling in a car.
PNN
