Counters at the General Post Office in Bhubaneswar where a theft took place on October 6. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: Cops are still clueless about burglaries in the posh MLA Colony in Unit-IV and theft of Rs 45,000 from the general post office. Both occurred in the past four days.

The police said the burglaries in the official quarters of sitting MLA from Koraput Raghunath Padal and Balangir MP Kalikesh Singhdeo occurred the night of October 7, while the cash theft at General Post Office (GPO) took place on October 6.

These incidents pose challenges to the city police as they occurred in a high security area near the Assembly, secretariat, the camp office of the director-general of police and the police commissionerate office.

In the past nine months, the city has witnessed 207 burglary incidents while the number of thefts is as high as 1,088 with three more months still to go this year. During the same period last year, the cases of burglaries were 167 while the number of thefts was 904. There has been a considerable rise in the number of such cases in the state capital.

Residents blame lack of police patrolling in the city and say goons are taking advantage of the callousness of the cops.

“If goons can strike in high-security areas at the heart of the city, we know that we are not safe at all. Hoodlums have been striking at will in our area and we are not surprised after the recent incidents,” said K.C. Mohapatra, a resident of Aiginia, where burglars looted valuables from the house of a television actress last month after severely injuring her when she gave them a fight.

Even residents in the central part of the city said police patrolling had stopped or became less frequent in recent days. “This gives hoodlums the opportunity to strike at will,” said Subodh Rout, a resident.

In the post office theft case, the postal employees came to know about the matter after watching closed circuit television footage. They have demanded security arrangements at the GPO and while transporting large amounts of cash from one place to another.

“We have been demanding stringent security arrangements, but higher authorities are not paying any attention. Even though instructions have been given to the circle head to take assistance from the local police or hire private security guards, they show no interest. The recent theft was a result of their indifferent attitude,” said a postal employee, who is an administrative head of the employees’ association of the GPO.

Senior police officers said they were looking into the recent crimes and would arrest the suspects shortly. “Besides, we have intensified patrolling and are stressing on area-based patrolling to prevent such incidents,” said a senior police officer.