Five arrested youths at Saheed Nagar police station in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 21: A gang of five students was arrested last night for robbing people at night from the Saheed Nagar area.

An engineering student used to lead the gang. Police have seized a mobile phone and two motorcycles from them. Another youth involved in the crime escaped. Three students were pursuing diploma courses in engineering.

The accused have been identified as Krushna Chandra Behera (19), Sandeep Mohanty (19), Bikash Kumar Jena (19), Niladri Bhusan Champatiray (20) and Manoj Kumar Mohapatra (19). All of them were from Gada Gopinath Prasad Colony in Mancheswar area.

The police said, on the night of June 4, Suraj Kumar Raj, employed with a private company, was robbed by these youths while he was returning home around 11pm. The criminals beat him up near a restaurant at Saheed Nagar. They snatched away his wallet containing Rs 4,500 and his mobile phone.

Raj had lodged a complaint with the Saheed Nagar police following which police launched a hunt to nab the gang. A senior police officer said these youths were involved in many snatching and loot cases at Saheed Nagar. “They were also creating problems for commuters by rioting in the public places and attacking people at lonely places,” he said.

Acting on a tip off, the Saheed Nagar police raided the GGP colony area last night and arrested these youths. Police registered a case against the accused and booked them under sections 147, 148, 323, 341, 294, 506, 379 and 149 of the IPC. The youths were sent to jail after a local court had rejected their bail pleas.

Apart from Krushna, an autorickshaw driver, other youths are students. Sandeep, a first-year engineering student, used to mastermind their plan. Others were diploma and Industrial Training Institute students.

In another incident, three persons were detained for committing crimes such as, snatching and loot, in the Khandagiri area. Police said they were veteran criminals active in that area. “We are interrogating them and hope to recover some stolen goods from them,” said an officer.

The involvement of students in crimes in the capital city has put police in a tizzy. According to a police officer, more youngsters, particularly college-going students, are being lately found in the city’s crime scenario. “This is an alarming trend,” he said.