Six inter-State dacoits arrested

JAJPUR:AN inter-State gang of dacoits was busted and six of its members were arrested with arms by Jajpur Road police on Monday. They had gathered near new by-pass road in the vicinity of Vyas Nagar town under Jajpur Road police limits to commit a dacoity in the locality when cops nabbed them.

Four semi-automatic country-made pistols, seven loaded magazines, 80 rounds of live cartridges besides, two SUVs and six mobile phones have been seized from them. The accused are Prafulla Lakra (36) of Kuntara in Sambalpur, Deepak Baburam Ekka (35) of Kandeimal in Sundargarh, Soib Allam alias Papu Khan (34) of Badabahal in Simdega, Ziaul Haque (32) and Jamil Aktar(35)  of Hanat in Lohardega and Arjun Patra (47) of Puneidiha in Sundargarh .

IGP (central range)  Soumendra Kumar Priyadarshi said three of the criminals belong to Jharkhand while the rest are from different districts of Odisha. Soib of Simdega in Jharkhand was the kingpin of the gang. The country-made pistols seized from them were sophisticated and prima facie, it appeared that the arms and ammunition were procured from Munger in Bihar.

The IGP said investigation is on to find out if there are more members in the gang and from where exactly the arms were procured. The criminals were forwarded to court and if required, police will seek their remand.Jajpur SP Charan Singh Meena was present.