Police bust ‘bouncer gang’ involved in forcible possession of land in Bhubaneswar

The Commissionerate Police on Tuesday busted a self-proclaimed ‘bouncer gang’ involved in issuing threats and assaulting people to vacate and gain possession of land in Bhubaneswar. Chandrasekharpur Police arrested five members of the gang.

The accused have been identified as Padia Sahu, Rashmi Parida, Satyabrat Behera, and Samir Barik. All the five accused were arrested based on the complaint filed by one Manas Behera, who runs a construction company.

The complainant had recently alleged that some miscreants came to his land, attacked him and his staff, and removed them from the spot. The miscreants also snatched money from them.

Bhubaneswar DCP, Prateek Singh informed that a case was subsequently registered and it was found that two construction companies were involved in a dispute over a patch of land. Both the companies were claiming ownership over the land. One company hired the bouncer gang to remove Manas Behera and take possession.

Sources said that the cost of the land is around Rs 10 crore and a deal was struck with the bouncer gang for Rs 50 lakh for the job.

“First we identified the miscreants who were local residents involved in issuing threats. One Ajit Mohanty, a staff of the construction company had approached the accused to get possession of the land,” said Singh.

Singh further informed that during the probe it was found that the accused were projecting themselves as ‘criminals’ having major links. They were also involved in threatening people, lending money on interest, and other forcible collections. As they had unleashed terror, people were reluctant to lodge complaints, he said.

“We have seized the snatched money from the accused. Other associates of the gang will be arrested soon and stern action will be taken against them,” Singh added.