Jharsuguda: Brajrajnagar police on Sunday busted an inter-district burglary gang that targeted foreign liquor shops, solving two linked burglary cases and arrested four habitual offenders from Odisha’s Ganjam district.Police identified the accused as Prasanta Behera (23) of Ganjam as the mastermind. His familiarity with the locality, owing to relatives residing under Orient police station limits, allegedly helped the gang plot the crimes. He reportedly recruited Kisan Pandi (22), Narayan Jena alias Mithun (25), and Chitrasen Jena alias Chintamani alias Chitra (23), all natives of Ganjam and acquaintances from their time working together in Surat.Jharsuguda SP Gundala Reddy Raghavendra said the accused hired an SUV from Berhampur, conducted reconnaissance of several FL shops in Jharsuguda before committing burglaries. On July 8-9 night, criminals broke into FL shops under Orient and Banharpali police station areas. In the Orient case, the accused allegedly assaulted the night watchman, tied him up, damaged his mobile phone and fled with cash and liquor bottles and fled the district. The total cash from both FL shops were Rs 15,000 and Rs 59,000, respectively.”Soon after the incidents were reported, superintendent of police G R Raghavendra, along with Brajarajnagar SDPO and the inspector-in-charge of Brajarajnagar police station, personally supervised the investigation. Multiple special investigation teams (SITs) were formed, with dedicated teams dispatched to Gajapati and Berhampur, while parallel teams analysed CCTV footage, gathered technical evidence and developed intelligence inputs.During the operation, police seized Rs 35,700 in cash, the SUV allegedly used in the crime, two crowbars, a digitalvideo recorder (DVR), three mobile phones belonging to the accused and broken locks along with other incriminating articles recovered from the crime scenes.Verification of the accused revealed that all four are habitual property offenders with criminal antecedents in Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khurda and Bhubaneswar, indicating their involvement in organised inter-district burglary networks.Jharsuguda SP GR Raghavendra said, “Jharsuguda police has detected both FL shop burglary cases within 50 hours and arrested the members of an organised inter-district gang. Through scientific investigation, CCTV analysis, and technical intelligence, we recovered the stolen property and the vehicle used in the offence. We remain committed to taking strict action against organised criminals and request all business establishments to strengthen their security measures.“
