Three cops held  for Highway loot in Odisha

CUTTACK: In a major embarrassment for Cuttack Police (Rural), three policemen were arrested on Friday on charges of looting Rs 1.47 lakh cash from a businessman on NH-16. The incident took place near Sardala Chowk under Tangi police limits on Wednesday night. 
The accused are constable Jogendra Pani, home guard Braja Kishore Panda and driver home guard Santosh Mallick of areas under Tangi police limits.

The incident occurred when the businessman, Sarat Dey of Brahmagiri, was heading towards Puri from Kolkata in a car with other two persons around 1 am on Wednesday. When Dey halted for a break, the local police patrolling van reached there and the personnel started questioning them. Identifying themselves as Special Squad staff, the three cops took away vehicle key from the victims and started searching the car. Threatening them to book them on false charges of transporting ganja, police forcibly took the cash kept inside the dashboard dickey and fled from the spot.

On the following day, with the intervention of an advocate, the matter was settled amicably after the accused cops returned the cash and rendered apology for their misconduct. However, when the incident went viral on social media, acting on the direction of Cuttack SP (Rural) Radha Binod Panigrahi, IIC of Tangi police station Bimal Kumar Barik suo moto registered a case and started investigation. During interrogation, the accused trio confessed to their errant behaviour following which they were arrested and forwarded to court. The accused have been remanded to judicial custody after their bail petition was rejected by the court.