Ramakanta Biswas

Bhubaneswar: Even thieves sometimes get touched by a sense of guilt and though it is hard to believe, miscreants who stole valuables of a hostel inmate in Bhubaneswar realised the importance of educational certificates in the life of a student and returned the stolen ones.

Two thieves who had robbed valuables of Dharanidhar Sahu, who lives in a hostel in Sailashree Vihar in Bhubaneswar, returned all the certificates that they found in the stolen items.

According to sources, Dharanidhar had gone to take bath on the morning of October 18, when the thieves entered his hostel room and fled with his laptop, cellphone and other valuables. Dharanidhar's laptop bag had all of his educational certificates.

Four days after lodging a complaint in this regard, Dharanidhar got a call from an unknown number where the caller told him that he and his relative found his certificates on road and assured him to return it soon. They reportedly retrieved the number of the youth by using his Aadhaar card.

"On October 22, I got the call and the caller said he and one of his relatives found my certificates on the road. The caller said he and his relative are labourers and hail from Ganjam. They asked me collect the certificates from a bus at Barmunda terminal by paying Rs 600. As per their instructions, I collected my certificates from the said bus," Dharanidhar said.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised as to why the police are yet to nab the thieves even if they have the CCTV camera footage and mobile number of the accused persons.

Inspector-in-charge of Chandrasekharpur Police Station, Biswajeet Sahu said, "The stolen mobile is yet to be traced. However, we will trace the cellphone from which the thieves made the call to the youth and nab them soon."

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