Angul, June 17: Police have arrested six criminals for allegedly attacking the divisional forest officer of Satkosia with lethal weapons and attempting to rob him of money and valuables near Phulpara, 6km from here. The officer, S.M.T. Rahman, was returning with his wife and two daughters in a car on Monday night from Bhubaneswar. A car carrying six dacoits, who had been chasing Rahman's car from Satmail Chhak, intercepted it at Phulpara.

Rahman asked his driver to drive towards the nearby slum. But, the dacoits armed with iron rods and swords pounced upon them, asking for money and valuables.

"Initially at Satmail, they parked their car on the road in such a way that other vehicles had to slow down, unknowingly giving the criminals a chance to commit the crime. They caught me at Phulpara and placed their car in front of us. I told them that I was the divisional forest officer and pleaded for letting us go. But, they forced me to give them the money and valuables we had and started beating me with rods. On hearing the noise, the nearby villagers had rushed to the spot, and this sent the criminals into a tizzy," Rahman said.

When the criminals were chasing Rahman, the officer had informed the Angul district police chief, who immediately ordered Banarpal police to rush to the spot. Acting on the tip-off, a team of Banarpal police, led by inspector in charge Subash Sahu, rushed there and succeeded in nabbing the criminals near Angul. The car and weapons were seized.

Three of the arrested belong to Angul and the other three belonged to various places in Cuttack.

"We found a car at roadside with some people inside it. Their presence at the spot somehow raised our suspicion. When we grilled them, they tried to flee. However, we managed to catch all of them. The dacoits were sent to judicial custody. We are checking their antecedents, and we suspect that they are involved in a few other cases committed on the same road between Bhubaneswar and Angul," said Sahu.