Bhubaneswar, June 16: Kharavela Nagar police detained four persons last night suspecting their involvement in the June 5 robbery at a jewellery shop on Janpath near Master Canteen Square.

Officials said several teams from Kharavela Nagar police station and the special squad of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police conducted raids in Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Calcutta and in an attempt to nab the accused.

The team that went to Hyderabad picked up four persons after tracking their cell phones last night. “Our team is bringing them to the city. We will interrogate them to find out their involvement in the crime and try to seize the stolen ornaments,” said a senior police officer.

He said that after committing the crime, the gang members, all of whom are from Berhampur, had left for their native place. From there, they went to Calcutta and then to Hyderabad. “They have been moving from city to city. Our teams finally tracked them down to Hyderabad,” he said.

During the armed robbery at the jewellery shop, salespersons had managed to catch hold of one of the accused just as he was trying to escape.

But the other four managed to flee with gold ornaments worth around Rs 2 crore.

The cops later found that one of the employees of the shop, Ranjan Das, was the mastermind of the crime and had provided information to the gang.

After the incident, he went into hiding and his cell phone was found switched off. Cops also said he was involved in several crimes a few years ago.

As the police were taking time to arrest the criminals, members of the Bhubaneswar Jewellers’ Association on Thursday met the additional commissioner of police (ACP) Santosh Bala and deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjeet Singh at the Commissionerate Police building. The DCP had assured them that the accused would be arrested soon.

Following rise in crimes such as dacoity, snatching, robbery, burglary and theft in the city, particularly on Janpath in Kharavela Nagar police limits, the local police have started intensive checking drives.

Two teams of the Kharavela Nagar police have been blocking vehicles near Gurudwara and in front of Giridurga temple and have been checking vehicles.

“We are conducting regular checks in this area. Crimes have become frequent here and that is why we have intensified the drive so that troublemakers are wary. Those found violating rules are being fined. When they fail to produce their vehicle papers we interrogate them to find whether the vehicles are stolen or not. Such checking many a time helps us crack cases,” said inspector in charge of Kharavela Nagar police station Manoj Samant.

The traffic police too was seen conducting checking on various roads. The ACP traffic Binod Das and inspector in charge of traffic police station Ranjan Mallick have been leading the enforcement teams.