According to sources, all of them are residents of Jajpur and Ganjam and are involved in a number of crimes including the recent one in Khandagiri where a medicine store owner was robbed.
It is suspected that the gang is also involved in some crimes and loot cases in other States and further investigation in this connection is on.
Senior police officials informed that the criminal gang mostly used to snatch mobile phones and gold chains from people.
While cops have also recovered several weapons, an investigation is currently underway to nab the other members of the gang.
“We think there may be an inter-state dacoit gang link behind the loot incidents at Angul but in case of Nayagarh incident, local criminals are involved. A probe is underway with SP, DIG and SDPO all monitoring the case and we hope to nab the culprits very soon,” Crime Branch ADG Santosh Upadhayay said.
Upadhayay further stated that police is discussing with various stake holders including bank authorities on different ways of crime prevention especially to prevent the lacunae present in the system and to ensure efficiency in both internal and external security.
The ADG today met Angul SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra and North-Central DIG Narasingha Bhola while reviewing the probe in connection with the loot incidents. Later he also enquired on the details of the loot incident at the Andhra Bank branch near Bazaar Chhak.
It is to be noted that on April 6, six men armed with country-made pistols and other weapons looted Rs 23 lakh in cash and jewellery worth over Rs 79 lakh from the Andhra Bank branch in the town. Later that night, some miscreants decamped with an iron-chest from the strong room of SBI at Bantala.
Similarly, at least five motorcycle-borne miscreants decamped with 256 gold packets and Rs 80,000 in cash by holding the staff at gunpoint from Odisha Gramya Bank at Sarangadhara in Nayagarh.
The cops also seized two cars, two bikes and eight mobile phones from their possession, said Rayagada SP K Siva Subramani at a press meet today.
A special team of Rayagada police was formed to nab the dacoits. While eight members of the gang have been arrested, another accused is still at large. The arrested eight would be forwarded to court today, the SP added.
“A Special Squad under the leadership of Rayagada SDPO and IIC conducted a raid at Mutabali village of Phulbani district and arrested the dacoits from their hideout. All of them have criminal antecedents and are involved in robbery and loot of cars in Rayagada, Kandhamal, Boudh, Bolangir, Subarnapur districts. We have recovered the stolen properties and they will be court forwarded today,’’ said Subramani.
Satyaban Singh (47), Mukesh Singh (32), Rajabir Singh (25) and Sunil Kumar (32) of different villages in Rohtak and Hisar districts of Haryana were arrested yesterday from near the railway station here during the joint raids conducted by the personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and GRP, the police said.
Three swords, a toy pistol, four mobile phone sets, masks and cash around Rs 30,800 were seized from them. Other three members of the gang, however, managed to escape from the spot, said inspector in charge, GRP Berhampur BK Mohapatra.
Police intensified patrolling in the area to nab the other members of the gang, who fled the spot, he added.
The gang was caught while preparing to loot passengers of the Trivandrum-Guwahati Express train, he said.
"During interrogation, we came to know that the gang was doing the train dacoity for some years across the country.
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They started operation in Kharagpur to Visakhapatnam route for last two years," he said.
He said the exact number of cases pending against them was yet to be assessed.
"After busting of the gang, we have sent messages to the nearby railway police stations. They will intimate about the gang's involvement in other train dacoit cases", said Mohapatra.
Based on the information provided by West Bengal police about two dacoity incidents that occurred under Mohanpur police station in West Midnapur and Egra police station in East Midnapur area, Odisha police arrested one Sk Saifulla of Balu Bazar area under Balasore Town police station on Wednesday, police said.
After interrogation, three more people, from different areas in Balasore district, Santosh Kumar Das, Sashikanta Mohanty and Sk Azad allegedly involved in the dacoity incident were also nabbed by police yesterday.
Eastern Range DIG of police Asit Panigrahi said, ?This gang is also involved in different docoity incidents in Balasore and neighbouring areas and makes banks as soft target where poor security arrangements are there.?
A country made pistol, a few cartridges and cash to the tune of Rs 23.7 lakhs were seized from them in addition to 4 motor cycles 10 mobile phone and a laptop, Panigrahi said.
The Superintendant of Police Balasore Abinash Kumar said,? based on the information of the accused some more members of the gang will soon be apprehended? PTI COR aam CR