Bhubaneswar: Police on Thursday arrested a youth for allegedly stealing Rs 12 lakh from his uncle's house at Kanan Vihar on Wednesday night.

The cops are also trying to trace a woman, who has called up the victim, a retired naval officer, to move out of his house.

The victim, Prakash Acharya, 63, has been running an NGO's office in his house for past few years. The police said the mastermind behind the theft, Abhishek Ekka, 24, used to stay with Acharya and had shifted to another house a couple of weeks ago.

The police said Acharya had kept the cash in a bag in his house for conducting a commercial fare in March. "On Wednesday evening, I received a woman's call. She told me that her organisation wanted to sponsor the fare. Later, I went to Pahala only to find the office closed. My nephew also accompanied me," said Acharya.

On this, Acharya became suspicious and alarmed his neighbour, who found the main door of his house locked. "Later on returning home, Acharya found his bedroom ransacked and the cash bag tampered. He then lodged a police complaint," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

"Ekka confessed to the crime," said a police official.

The police have also arrested another accused, Abhaya Sharma, who stays with Ekka at Infocity. "The accused had handed over the duplicate key of Acharya's house to his associate," he said.

Narrow escape

A youth from Athagarh in Cuttack district had a narrow escape as he ran between the legs of a wild elephant that had strayed into his village. Sources said the youth ran between the animal's legs in an attempted stunt. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.