Kandhamal: Eight fake policemen were nabbed by villagers in Baligata of Panga Upasahi Panchayat under Firingia police limits in Odisha’s Kandhamal district and handed over to the police.
According to reports, a 15-member fake police team was raiding houses in the village late on Thursday night when they were caught by the villagers. Three guns, one pistol, 4 sets of police uniforms, and several weapons were seized from their possession.
Addressing a press conference, SDPO Suprasanna Mallik said that this fake police team had planned to take marijuana by threatening people in the area. However, when they did not get any ganja from the houses they raided, they started looting. While the gang was robbing 6 tolas of gold, Rs 50,000, and other things from the house of a villager, the latter contacted the Firingia police and learned that the cops from the police station did not go to that village.
Subsequently, villagers got together and nabbed the robber gang, and called the police. They handed the fake police to the actual police team from Firingia police station. Out of the 15 people in the dacoit gang, seven managed to escape while eight others have been arrested. Of the eight arrested three are notorious criminals from Cuttack namely Ashok Kumar Raut, Sipul Kumar Kavi, and Manbhanjan Pradhan. Five of the arrested are from the Kandhamal district and they have been identified as Joseph Dayal, Shankar Dayal, Angad Dayal, Kirtim Dayal, and Ranjan Sahani!
The police have launched a manhunt to nab the seven robbers who fled the spot, SDPO said.
