Berhampur: With the arrest of four people and seizure of a huge quantity of stolen gold and cash from them, police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an organised gang involved in burglary in Berhampur city of Odisha’s Ganjam district.
According to police, the gang was involved in burglaries and disposing of stolen gold ornaments. Those arrested included the branch manager of a gold loan finance company and two goldsmiths.
The arrest was made by the police while investigating a burglary incident at a house on September 21. The gang members had decamped with gold ornaments.
A case was registered and one person, identified as Sania Gauda, was detained after police obtained some clue about his involvement in the crime. During interrogation, the man revealed that he had deposited the stolen gold with Mohan Padhi, branch manager of a gold finance firm, a senior police official said.
The branch manager was then detained and questioned and he gave information about a shop where old and stolen gold was being melted.
Based on the information, police swung into action and seized 2.7 kg gold from the goldsmith, identified as Santosh Gaikwad.
Subsequently, another jeweller, Surendra Mohapatra was taken into custody after further probe.
Police later seized 400 grams of silver and unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 26 lakh cash. Income Tax department has been informed about it for further action.
Some more people are stated to be involved in the racket and efforts are on to apprehend them, police added.
