Bhubaneswar: The Twin City Commissionerate Police have arrested seven members of a gang allegedly involved in looting Mo Bus passengers, Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh informed on Tuesday.
“All arrested persons hail from Cuttack. The gang would enter a crowded Mo Bus from Baramunda and create artificial jam around passengers before looting them of cash, hang bags and purses. They would then get off the bus at some stoppage or bus stand and board another to target more passengers. They travelled in autos and took precautions to conceal their identity. They also targetted buses plying between the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and crowed buses parked at bus stands,” he said.
Those arrested have been identified as Nikunja Samantaray (55), Sekh Muna(33), SK Sultan(60), Halim Khan alias Rajesh (42), Prafulla Barik (40), Duryadhan Mohapatra alias Bhima (33) and SK Firoj alias Bauli (41).
“They are involved in two loot cases each reported from Nayapalli and Saheed Nagar and one case each from Capital Hospital and Khandagiri,” the DCP further said.
Nine cell phones and Rs 57,000 in cash were recovered from them. Efforts are on to identify other gangs involved in this crime, he added.
On December 11, Biranchi Narayan Seth, a native of Nayagarh and working as a driver in the capital city, was robbed of Rs 42,000 cash inside the public transport under CRUT while travelling from Rasulgarh Chhhak to Baramunda. He had lodged a complaint with Nayapalli police in this regard. However, this was not the lone case. There had been reports of theft of cash and gold from passengers travelling in the bus.
A well-organised gang was involved in the crime, a release said.
Notably, two persons involved in a loot case on ‘Mo Bus’ were arrested earlier in September.
