Cuttack, Jan. 20: Police have claimed a breakthrough by foiling the robbery attempts of a gang at Jobra area within the limits of Malgodown police station.
Acting on a tip-off, the Malgodown police arrested five persons of the gang and recovered a Mauser, two rounds of bullet, a motorcycle and two sharp weapons. Sources said the gang had planned to target a trader, who was scheduled to cross Jobra from Malgodown on Saturday night with cash over Rs 2 lakh.
The gang members had assembled behind Gujarati School near Patra Sahi and were arrested by a special squad formed by the Malgodown police around 10.30pm last night.
The accused have been identified as Srikant Sahoo, 35, alias Golia, Sandip Bal alias Rinku, 32, Rakesh Mohapatra alias Chiku,22, Pinaki Barik alias Khokan, 29, and Chandrika Shaw alias Raju, 20.
“The gang was planning to loot a Malgodown-based trader, and the swift action of the special squad has led to the arrest of the five criminals from Patra Sahi last night,” said a senior official of the Malgodown police.
Senior officials of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police said over a dozen cases had been registered against the gang in different police stations pertaining to loot, robbery, extortion and tender fixing.
One of the accused, Srikant Sahoo alias Golia, was earlier arrested in connection with an incident of bombing on the office of the executive engineer of Mahanadi south divison of the water resource department at Jobra on April 18, last year.
Sources in the police said Golia was arrested and subsequently released on bail a couple of months ago. Upon release, he had formed a gang and was actively involved in a series of loot incidents in different parts of the city.
“Golia has links with dreaded gangster Tito who is involved in tender fixing incidents in both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar,” the official said.
The arrests hold significance for the police as the criminals have already unleashed terror by looting Rs 3.60 lakh from two employees of a private company, on January 14. In another incident, unidentified persons shot a trader and snatched Rs 1.5 lakh from him on January 16.
