Bhubaneswar: The crime branch will interrogate Benazir Bibi, the wife of gangster Syed Usman Ali alias Tito, who was injured in a police encounter in Jajpur district on June 30.
Benazir, a home-maker, came under police scanner after the investigating agency had found the gangster's several properties, including a car worth Rs 90 lakh, registered in her name.
Crime branch officials said a team of the special task force, headed by one lady inspector, would grill her in her house in Kendrapara. "She will be interrogated to ascertain whether she was indeed at helm of business empire of the gangster or it was Tito who only used her name to develop the business. We have also found bank transactions worth lakhs in the account of Benazir," said a police official.
The police said complaints had started to pour in against the gangster with one Sarojini Mishra accusing him of grabbing of 36 guntha land at gunpoint.
The plot was being used for keeping vehicles and other construction materials. Similarly, another person, identified as Premananda Lenka, has also lodged a complaint of extortion of Rs 70 lakh at gunpoint for a tender worth Rs 7 crore from the water resources in Kendrapara district.
The police said the bank in Kendrapara on Thursday seized five accounts of the gangster having deposit worth Rs 16.42 lakh. "We are also interrogating one of the key associates of the gangster, Bapu Parida, who is involved in more than 25 cases of murder and attempt to murder. He was managing one dumper association in the area and owns a construction firm," said a police official.
The special task force officials have traced more than 50 bank accounts of the gangster, his wife and 18 other associates. The investigating agency has also directed seven tehsildars of Kendrapara, Mahakalapada, Pattamundai, Dharmasala, Balichandrapur, Garadpur and Marsaghai to provide information about his morum quarries in Kendrapara district.
The police have also asked for information regarding a hospital project worth Rs 110 crore in the district.
