Keonjhar: Keonjhar Town Police foiled a planned dacoity with the arrest of nine armed criminals, belonging to one ‘Mahakaal gang’, following an overnight operation which ended in the early hours of Friday.
Those arrested have been identified as Ganesh Giri, Priyanka Darshan Pradhan, Parsuram Pradhan, Nirmal Pradhan, Subhash Giri, Ranjan Palei, Vinod Munda, Rohit Naik, MD Jisan, all aged between 21 and 55 years. Five 7.65 mm pistols, seven magazines, 25 rounds of ammunition, two swords and as many ‘katuris’ (machete), and an iron rod, along with an SUV, were seized from them.
Briefing the media, Keonjhar SP Nitin Kushalkar said that a night patrolling team of Town police reached an abandoned house near Ghadaghadi Temple at Naranpur as the accused were plotting to loot the Bank of India’s Naranpur branch. “The criminals opened fire at the patrolling team with a 7.65 mm pistol. The police personnel immediately took cover and tactically surrounded the premises, leading to their arrest,” he said.
The SP further stated that more than 37 criminal cases are pending against them in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts and Jharkhand.
Investigation revealed the ‘Mahakaal gang’ was involved in illegal sand mining, cattle theft, arms trading, dacoity, robbery, extortion, and ‘supari’ killing, he added.
Some of them are suspected to be involved in a recent robbery attempt in Joda police station area.