7 miscreants arrested for conning, looting in Odisha

JAJPUR:  Balichandrapur police, on Friday, arrested seven persons for allegedly conducting a raid on a business house in local market impersonating as commercial tax officers. The accused have been identified as Asit Kumar Sahoo, Prasant Kumar Mallik and Sandip Rana, all from Chhatia village in Jajpur district, Shakti Prasad Nayak of Bagalpur, Kanhu Charan Sahoo of Bahadalapur of Khurda district, Manas Khatua of Bahada village in Nayagarh and Biranchi Narayan Sahoo of Nuapatana in Jagatsinghpur district.

According to police, the seven accused visited the grocery store of one Ranjan Kumar Pradhan  in Balichandrapur market on Thursday  when goods were being unloaded at the shop from a truck. Identifying themselves  as commercial tax officers from the local Jajpur office, they claimed to have come to check the Goods and Service Tax (GST) of the shop. They asked Pradhan to show some bills and when he refused, they allegedly stopped the unloading of the goods and  took the goods laden truck with them, police said. Pradhan informed the incident to the local police and registered a complaint. 

Chasing the accused, police caught hold of all the accused near Nuahat under Barachana police limits and took them to the police station. A case has been registered and the accused produced in the local court on Saturday. They were later remanded to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected, police said.