Bhubaneswar/Balangir: The Balangir district police on Thursday seized stolen gold and silver worth over Rs 3.5 crore from seven alleged dacoits, who had hidden the valuables behind concrete walls, beneath the ground and inside cowsheds.The massive haul — comprising around 2kg of gold, 25kg of silver and Rs 10 lakh in cash — was traced to an armed dacoity at a businessman’s residence under Sindhekela police station limits on Aug 23. A gang of armed miscreants stormed the house, located barely 100 metres from the Sindhekela police station, held the family members at gunpoint and fled with huge quantities of ornaments.Former IGP (northern range) Himanshu Kumar Lal, who handed over charge to his successor DIG Charan Singh Meena on Thursday, said multiple teams were constituted to crack the case. Investigators found the accused had conducted recce in the area for three days before zeroing in on the residence of businessman Phulchand Jain, who also runs a jewellery business.“Based on CCTV footage and human intelligence, we tracked down the suspects and recovered the stolen ornaments. While the bulk of the booty was looted from the businessman’s house, other seized articles are suspected to have been stolen from Duarseni temple and other places in recent months,” Balangir SP Abilash G said.“We discovered that the gang had concealed the valuables behind walls, in cow sheds and a garage. This recovery not only solves the recent dacoity but also links the gang to a series of other robberies,” IGP Lal said, adding that some of the accused had earlier been arrested in robbery cases.Police said that tracking the gang was a challenge as they were not local residents.The accused were identified the accused as Ishwar Naik (24), Trilochan Bag (25), Harischandra Naik (24), Sukant Bag (28), Barbil Naik (26), Nandalonda Pani (35) and Nabin Majhi (25), all hailing from Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. The SP added that the gang had been operating across Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada.
