Rourkela: Police busted a gang of robbers following the arrest of four persons and recovery of arms from them late on Sunday night.
They were caught while planning a robbery, the police said.
The three accused are Md Aftab of Gopabandhu Colony in Rourkela, Md Jalil, Md Chand and Md Raza from Rajgangpur. Another accomplice, however, managed to escape during the raid.
All the accused are in their mid-twenties.
The cops also recovered a country-made revolver and three swords. The arrested have several cases of robberies against their names in Rourkela, Rajgangpur and Kuanrmunda.
"We were keeping an eye Jalil's movement and our informers had been giving us inputs regarding his activities. We got a tip-off that the gang was planning a robbery for which they gathered at the parking lot near Power House Road. They were planning for another crime on Sunday night. We raided the place and arrested them," said deputy superintendent of police P.K. Mishra.
Mishra said: "Jalil has been named in several cases at different places. He and his gang were involved in robberies at Civil Township in the house of a Rourkela Steel Plant official and businessman Babuli Nayak's home two years ago. He was also named as an accused in two robberies at Rajgangpur. Last year, they had killed a veterinarian at Kuanrmunda when he resisted their bid to entered his home."
"Jalil was also involved in another case at Bilaspur in Chattisgarh. Most of his friends are in jail. So he formed a new gang with some train robbers."
The special squad was keeping an eye on his activities. Chand also has a murder case against his name, the officer said. Similarly, Raza and Aftab also have cases against them in different police stations.
Infrastructure request
The state government has requested the Centre to upgrade old mobile towers in Maoist-affected areas of the state, said chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi after a meeting with the Union cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha at the state secretariat here on Monday.
Padhi said the cabinet secretary reviewed development works in the affected areas during the meeting.
