Computers and other electronic gadgets looted from a software firm recovered by police in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 20: Police today arrested three persons, including a young couple, for allegedly committing a robbery at a software firm at CDA Sector 10.

The accused persons have been identified as Chandrakant Khatua, 27, of Darghabazar area, his wife Saubhagya Rashmipriyadarshini, 23, from Bhubaneswar and Sanjay Jena, 31, an autorickshaw driver.

Saubhagya, who is the key accused in the crime, has also allegedly duped many job aspirants in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. She runs a consultancy firm in Bhubaneswar that had been approached by the software company to recruit people for it. However, the deal did not materialise.

Though no formal complaint had been lodged against her, further investigation in this regard is on, a senior official of Markatnagar police said. Police sources said the accused had looted computers, printer, scanner machine and other electronic gadgets worth nearly Rs 3 lakh from Coronet Global Services at CDA Sector 10 on Saturday evening.

The owner of the software company, Satya Panigrahy, claimed that around five persons had barged into the office in his absence and decamped with computers and other electronic equipment after terrorising the office staff.

The incident had occurred around 4:45pm when employees at the software company were busy completing the day’s work. “The goons had entered my office on the first floor, snatched the mobile phones of the staff and ran away with the computers after locking the security guard in a room,” said Panigrahy.

Panigrahy said though the goons were not armed, they were successful in terrorising the staff and committing the offence. Two employees were also injured in the attack.

Saubhagya was apparently acquainted with Panigrahy as the former runs a consultancy firm at the Forest Park area. Panigrahy, who is also into real estate business, had set up his software firm at CDA only two months ago.

“The consultancy firm had collected money from various job aspirants to provide recruitment in our firm. There was no financial transaction between us and the consultancy firm,” Panigrahy said.

The three accused had been booked under Section 394 of the Indian Penal Code and produced before the court, the police said.