Bhubaneswar: Police arrested five members of an armed robbery gang on Wednesday for allegedly looting a person at gunpoint at Dhauli, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
Those arrested include the two alleged masterminds — Suryakant Jena and Gobinda
Mallik – and their three associates. Two motorcycles and nine mobile phones were seized from them.\
According to sources, the incident took place late in the night of May 11. The victim, a cook, was returning home when an armed gang intercepted him on the National Highway near Dhauli around 11:30 pm. The robbers allegedly snatched his mobile phone and Rs 4,500 in cash before holding him at gunpoint and forcing him to transfer Rs 63,000 via UPI to a linked bank account. The gang then fled the scene.
Following the incident, the victim filed a zero FIR complaint at the Badagada police station.
Dhauli police took up the investigation and used digital footprints — particularly the UPI transaction details and associated location data — to track and nab the suspects. Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether the robbers targeted more victims in a similar way.