Bhubaneswar, March 22: Robbers allegedly threatened the driver of an app cab at gunpoint and took away his vehicle here last night.

The incident occurred near Bharatpur within Khandagiri police limits. The police have already started an investigation after registering a case on the basis of complaint filed by the driver of the car.

According to the complaint filed by Dilip Kumar Pradhan, 37, driver of the car, the goons booked the vehicle through the cab-hailing app. He said a youth named Dinesh had booked the car from SUM Hospital around 10.45pm last night.

"He asked me to drop him at Bharatpur and sat in the vehicle. After crossing a temple near Bharatpur, he asked me to slow down. As soon as I reduced the speed of the car, three youths reached the spot and asked me to come out of the vehicle. They started assaulting me and asked me to leave the vehicle. When I resisted, they threatened me with dire consequences and took the car away," Pradhan, who hails from Cuttack district, alleged in his complaint.

Pradhan also alleged that the goons decamped with Rs 25,000 in cash that he had kept in the car along with original bank documents, a passbook, ATM card and identity proof.

"After they decamped with the car, I asked several vehicles passing through the road to chase the vehicle but no one agreed. Finally, a truck passing through the road stopped and we tried to look for the car. However, by that time, the criminals had vanished from the area," said Pradhan.

The driver also said he suspected that the robbers were students.

Deputy commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar, Satyabrata Bhoi said the police had started an investigation into the matter. "We are trying to identify the robbers on the basis of description provided by the victim. We are hopeful of cracking the case shortly," he said.

Orphanage head

Police arrested the head of a Jatni-based shelter home for allegedly torturing a 16-year-old Bangladesh national at the short stay home. The cops arrested the accused, Hochimin Shastri, 49, and forwarded him to court.

The minor from Bangladesh had accused the official of assaulting him and other inmates in front of the Child Welfare Committee, Puri, after he managed to escape from the shelter home.

He was rescued by cops from Puri railway station on March 8.

The boy is believed to have landed in the state while being trafficked from the neighbouring country four years ago. The teen had been staying in the government-recognised shelter home for the past three years. Puri committee chairperson Sidharth Ray had written to the state government requesting a probe into the boy's allegations.

Ray said the minor, during his counselling, alleged that one of the officials of the shelter home at Jatni had assaulted him physically - which made him lame.

The cops have also detained another employee of the short stay home, identified as 20-year-old Raju Das, who allegedly raped a minor girl staying at the home. Das also allegedly forced the girl to have an abortion.

"Das had been working as a cook at the shelter home for the past few years. A 17-year-old girl staying at the short stay home alleged that Das had maintained a physical relationship with her and later impregnated her," said a police official.

Das was undergoing medical examination at the time of filing this report.