Odisha: Five Arrested For Bank Robbery Bid After Losing Money In Online Game

Bargarh: Five persons have been arrested for an alleged bid to loot a bank at Barpali in Odisha’s Bargarh district.

Those arrested are Srikanta Seth (30) of Barpali, Rajat Juadi (21), Pintu Gartia (37), Deepak Barik (34) and Rinku Khamari (25) of Sadar area of the town. A country-made pistol with two rounds of live ammunition, a sharp-edged weapon, two toy pistols, two knives, two motorcycles, one car and six mobile phones have also been seized from them.

On Saturday, four miscreants, with one dressed as a woman, entered Utkal Grameen Bank with pistol and knives and held the bank staff hostage at gunpoint as they were working after closing the branch. They also snatched away three mobile phones from the bank staff but one of them pressed the siren following which the miscreants fled.

While on the run, one of the accused was nabbed by a police team present near the spot. “The robbers were arrested in less than 24 hours due to swift response by the bank staff. The investigation revealed that the accused were involved in online gaming and took to crime after incurring huge losses. One of the accused incurred a loss of Rs 12 lakh,” IG (NR), Himanshu Kumar Lal, told a presser.

Bargarh SP, Prahlad Sahai Meena, said that a police patrolling team was present nearby and caught one of the miscreants. “Subsequently, we interrogated the accused following which the rest were nabbed within three hours of the incident.”