Gang of highway robbers busted, seven held

Rajashree DashJajpur, June 28: With the arrest of seven persons, the Chandikhole police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang of highway robbers, who used to intercept the trucks at isolated locations on highways and snatched away the valuables from the truckers at gunpoint.Police also seized four motor bikes, two country made revolvers, six mobile phones and ready cash from their possession.The accused have been identified as Jogendra Das alias Jogia(24) of Mundamala-Gandhichhak; Ramesh Das alias Sentera(24), Soubhagya Kumar Sahu alias Guddu(20) and Mohammad Abu Nasar alias Juma(23) all belonging to Puruna Sungada; Soumya Ranjan Jena alias Tapua (20) and Dibya Ranjan Jena alias Sipua(19), both of them of Nisimala; and Rashmiranjan Mahala alias Likua(20) of Nua Sunguda under Barachana police station limits in the district.Chandikhole police on Saturday busted the gang after a truck driver complained in the wee hours on Friday that his cash, mobile phone and other valuables were snatched away by a group of robbers at gunpoint after they intercepted his vehicle near cinema hall in Chandikhole on National Highway No.5 late on Thursday night.Acting on the complaint, police arrested gang leader Jogia on Friday night, who during interrogation, confessed to his crime and revealed names of his gang members.Basing upon his revelation, the police managed to arrest six others of the gang after raiding at different locations of their hideout.The gang revealed that they had committed at least 42 crimes in all the highways passing through Jajpur district.According to Jajpur District Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar, the modus operandi of the gang that they only targeted trucks from outside not registered with local RTO.They used to intercept the trucks at isolated locations and snatch away their valuables at gunpoint.They also assaulted the truckers if they refused to spare their valuables, Kumar said.So far, they have admitted to have looted around 42 trucks along three highways passing through Jajpur district in a couple of months, he said.“The gang was mainly operating along three highways including National Highway No.5, in Balichandrapur, Barachana, Tangi, Jenapur, Dharmasala, Chandikhole and Jakhapura police station areas for the last couple of months.The accused usually overpowered and forced the driver and cleaner of the truck to loot them at gunpoint,” he said.As the gang was mainly targeting the trucks from far off areas, that is why the matter was not reported to us, he said, adding a local truck driver who was robbed of by the gang reported to us following which the gang came to police net.All the accused charged with under Section 395 of PIC and Section 25 Indian Arms Act were forwarded to the court and later remanded to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.