Cuttack, Sept. 3: The arrest of members of two gangs in the past four days here has raised suspicion that the Dhal Samant brothers have managed to keep their network active despite being lodged in jail.
The police conducted two major raids at Badambadi and Chauliaganj and in both cases, investigations have led the cops to suspect the covert hand of two key associates of the siblings. The arrested accused had links with Arif Khan and Bhajana alias Sanjay Kumar Sahoo, both of whom are in jail. While Arif was one of the alleged sharpshooters for the Dhal Samant brothers, Bhajana looked after tender fixing, extortion and dada bati for the duo.
Badambadi police on Friday midnight raided a place near a petrol pump at Shaktinagar and arrested seven gang members that had gathered there to commit a robbery.
During investigation, the police ascertained that the criminals were allegedly being led by Arif's brother-in-law, who managed to escape from the spot. They were planning to loot vehicles transporting cattle and goats.
The police suspect he was the link between Arif and the gang. 'Search operations are on and we expect to nab him shortly,' Badambadi police station inspector-in-charge Biranchi Narayan Pati said.
The arrested have been identified as Jitendra Sasmal of Bidanasi, Debasis Panda of Madhupatna, Mitesh Kumar Nayak of Tulasipur, Aditya Giri of Sheikh Bazar, Santish Sahu of Khannagar, Salman Bux of Gamhadiha and Bikaram Rout of Shankarpur. The police also seized a revolver, two live ammunition, a sword, two motorcycles and an auto-rickshaw from the spot.
During another raid at Nuabazar last Wednesday, a team from Chauliaganj police station found liquor being illegally sold in a building beside the canal embankment near Fish Market. It found several persons openly consuming liquor around the building.
According to Chauliaganj police station inspector-in-charge Ajay Das, while most managed to flee, they managed to 'apprehend Biswajit Mishra and Chittaranjan Sahoo, who have a history of selling illegal liquor according to the directions of Bhajana, who is lodged in Circle Jail at present'.
