Bhubaneswar: Police on Friday arrested two persons for allegedly stealing air conditioners from Loka Seva Bhavan, housing key departments and the Chief Minister’s office, in Bhubaneswar.
The accused have been identified as Manoj Kumar Das, a native of Nischintakoili in
Cuttack district, and Ranjan Palei, a resident of Jajpur district.
According to sources, a string of thefts were reported from one of the state’s topmost high-security administrative headquarters since 2025 with thieves mostly stealing compressors from offices of various departments. The Excise Department had filed a complaint at Capital police station in November last year after two AC compressors were found missing.
Subsequent investigation led police to the duo, who allegedly carried out the thefts on the pretext of repairing A/Cs. Several spare parts of air conditioners, collectively valued at Rs 10,000, were also recovered from them, a police officer said.