Bhadrak: Keonjhar Police on Saturday seized cash to the tune of Rs 70 lakh in cash, silver and gold jewellery during a raid at the house of Tajuddin, also known as Sheikh Rajan, a notorious cattle smuggler at Mullasahi under Bhadrak’s Puruna Bazaar police station.
According to reports, the Keonjhar police carried out the raids with the help of Bhadrak police at late night. Till the last report came in, raid is still ongoing. Police expect the cash and assets seized to increase.
Two Scorpio vehicles parked outside the house are also being checked. Rajan has over 10 cases registered against him in various police stations in Keonjhar district for illegal cow smuggling.
According to Keonjhar police, a market complex and a residential college near Bhadrak Bypass Road, owned by the accused, will also be raided shortly.
The operation is being led by Keonjhar Sadar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sudarshan Gangoi, with two platoons of force and 10 police officers deployed.
This is part of a larger operation, with 47 teams conducting raids in four districts of the state today.
Talking to the media, SDPO Gangoi said, “Police had received complaints against Rajan, prompting them to conduct raids, which resulted in the seizure of a substantial amount of cash, as well as gold and silver.”
Keonjhar Town Police IIC Srikant Sahu provided further details, saying, “We have registered multiple cases against cattle smugglers including Rajan at Town Police station in Keonjhar. With search warrants obtained from the court, we raided Rajan’s properties in Bhadrak. Junior engineers are currently evaluating his assets. So far, we’ve seized Rs 50 lakh in cash, and goldsmiths are assessing the gold and silver. We are planning to raid his business complex, Cosmo Bazaar, and a nursing school owned by him. The search operation is ongoing, and we’ll disclose more information once it’s complete.”
