Thieves Target Tourists In Two Odisha Hotspots

Jajpur/Koraput: Two separate incidents of theft have turned the light on safety of tourists in Odisha’s tourism hotspots.

A taxi driver was arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing jewellery and cash from a Bengaluru couple while they were on their way to Joda in Keonjhar district, according to a New Indian Express report.

The accused has been identified as Prakash Chandra Barala of Kalapathar area in Khurda district. The victims, Tushar Priyadarshi and his wife from Bengaluru had hired the taxi to visit Joda from Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

Tushar asked Prakash to halt the vehicle near a hotel when they reached Panikoili on NH-16 in the night. The couple had dinner at the hotel. The couple alleged that Prakash returned to the vehicle first and they came 10 minutes later.

As they again resumed the journey, they checked their belongings in the taxi only to find that their gold chain, three pairs of earrings, a diamond ring and cash of Rs 2,000 were missing from the bag. When they asked the accused about the missing valuables, the latter pleaded ignorance.

The couple then returned to the hotel and requested its owner to check the CCTV footage. Seeing this, the driver dumped their luggage and sped away with the vehicle towards Chandikhole.

Meanwhile, the hotel owner alerted the local police. Chandikhole police intercepted the car, detained Prakash and handed him over to Panikoili police. “We have arrested the driver and seized the taxi. The accused confessed to his crime during interrogation,” said Panikoili IIC Ranjan Kumar Pradhan, as quoted by the New Indian Express.

In another case, police arrested four persons for stealing tourists’ belongings near the Punjisil waterfall from their vehicles that was parked in the area, reported the Times of India. The accused were identified as Ranjit Takri, Rinku Khosla, and a minor. The fourth arrested person, Sunil Barik, used to deal in stolen items. The complainant, Pranab Anand Jena of Cuttack, had lodged the plaint with Koraput Sadar police station on October 14.

Acting on the complaint, police disguised themselves as tourists and laid a trap for the thieves. When the thieves attempted to break into a decoy vehicle, they were caught red-handed. The robbers took advantage of the fact that tourists parked their vehicles at a distance due to poor road conditions near the waterfall and smashed the windows with stones to steal valuables, said Koraput ASP Srikant Behera, as quoted by the TOI. The stolen items were then sold to Barik, the cop added.