Kendrapara: A wanted criminal from Kendrapara district was finally nabbed in a late night encounter on Tuesday after playing hide and seek with the police for the past 10 years.
Bijay Nayak sustained bullet injuries on his left leg and was shifted from the district headquarters hospital to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after his health deteriorated.
Acting on a tip-off that Nayak was ensconced in his house at his native Chaunri Berhampur village, a joint team of the Sadar Police and a Special Squad raided to the village around 11pm. However, Nayak managed to flee from the house on bike, speeding towards Kajala on National Highway-5. When the police tried to intercept him, he fired at them. But he fell off his bike when a bullet hit his left leg. Police later seized a mouser, two live cartridges, a bike and a fake voter identity card from him.
Nayak has over 100 cases of murder, bank heist, dacoity, firing and loot pending at several police stations in Odisha. According to police, Nayak, a close associate of dreaded gangster Tito, was involved in the murder of Sheikh Suleman, a mafia don belonging to a rival gang in Kendrapara district, in 2009. After the murder, he had fled and used to run a crime syndicate in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bengal. Police had difficulty arresting him as he used to change his get-up.
