Three inter-district burglars held, valuables worth Rs 25 lakh seized in Odisha
CUTTACK: Police have busted an inter-district burglary gang, arresting three members, including the receiver, and recovered stolen jewellery and other items worth Rs 25 lakh from them.
The gang comprised mainly members of a nomadic group.
The burglars, Bikas Das and Kuna Das, and receiver Debasish Sahoo belong to Kendrapara district. While Bikas and Kuna were nabbed on Sunday, Debasish was apprehended on Tuesday. Gold and silver ornaments and brass utensils worth around Rs 25 lakh were seized from him.
Briefing mediapersons, Cuttack SP (Rural) Prateek Singh said they began an investigation after receiving a complaint from one Ramesh Sahoo of Erakana within Bhadreswar police limits that some miscreants looted his house on March 7.
“Basing on further inputs provided by the complainant, we suspected the accused belonged to a nomadic community. So we engaged our sources in different villages where people of the community reside to gather more information. Subsequently, acting on a tip-off that some youths slept in an open field in the night, a special police team led by Salipur SDPO Biranchi Narayan Pati nabbed Kuna and Bikash on Sunday,” the SP said.
During interrogation, they confessed to have committed a series of burglaries in Cuttack and neighbouring districts and handed over the stolen ornaments to Debasish, who was the receiver, Singh said.
During interrogation, Debasish revealed he had pledged the stolen gold in INDEL Money and Muthoot Mercantile Limited branches at Kendrapara in his wife and mother’s names.
“While 24 pledged gold deposited in the name of his mother were seized from Muthoot Mercantile Limited, around six pledged gold in the name of his wife were recovered from INDEL Money. This apart, as many as 376 pledges were found to have been created in the name of Debasish and his mother with INDEL Money during the last two years which are under investigation,” Singh added.
While Bikash is involved in 18 burglary cases, as many as 11 burglary cases are pending against Kuna at different police stations in Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur districts. Similarly, Debasish has so far been arrested in 13 cases, the SP said.
“The gang grazes cattle in the morning and resorts to burglary in the nights,” Singh said, adding that efforts are underway to nab the other gang members.
