Police Tighten Noose On D-Syndicate: Cash Over Rs 16 Lakh Seized From Dhalasamanta House In Cuttack

Cuttack: Intensifying its crackdown on gangster brothers- Sushil and Sushant Dhalasamanta, the Commissionerate Police on Saturday recovered cash worth Rs 16.5 lakh from their residence in CDA Sector 6.

Besides, three 9mm pistols, 175 rounds of bullets were seized from the secret chambers of the gangster siblings in the last two days.

After taking Sushil Dhalasamanta on remand, the Commissonerate Police questioned him for seven hours yesterday and again two and a half hours today that led to seizure of the arms and ammunition.

"Many secret compartments were found inside the house of the gangster brothers where guns and bullets were hidden inside. We took Sushil with us during the search operation and he revealed where the firearms were hidden," said Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh.

Singh said the duo had been extorting money from sand blocks and liquor shop owners, but none of them came forward to lodge complaint due to fear.

Notably, Sushant, the elder of the gangster brothers is lodged in Bolangir jail while his younger sibling Sushil is present in Balasore jail. Arrested in January 2016, they were kept in separate jails in a bid to break their criminal empire. However, it seems the duo is one step ahead of police and managed to run their empire right from jail with the help of their aides.

The seizure of huge amount of cash, arms and ammunition from their residence have raised several questions like how they continue to control the crime syndicate by remaining behind bars and who are helping them.

A former jail superintendent Birendra Patra said, "Hardcore criminals posses huge cash. However, we fail to keep a close vigil on them as we do not have a dedicated control room to check their activities."

It was learnt that Prakash Behera, who was arrested along with D-brothers, resumed the illegal gun trade after being released on bail. When he was again arrested by Choudwar police, he revealed the name of one Saroj Sethi. Later, Sethi revealed about the illegal arms trade of the D-brothers.

(Edited By Suryakant Jena)