4 engineering students among 5 of bike-lifting gang arrested in Odisha’s Keonjhar

Keonjhar: In a crackdown, Town police busted a bike-lifting gang following a raid on a rented house in mining areas in Keonjhar district, yesterday. Police have arrested five persons in this connection and, surprisingly, four of them are engineering students.

Four students of a private engineering college in the town were identified as Dipankar Gochhayat (19), Sibanandan Pradhan (22), Jaya Kumar Das (19), and Nilesh Surim (20). The fifth arrested youth who had been assisting the four in the theft was identified as Rajib Gope (21).

According to the police source, motorcycle theft was frequently going on for the last few months. An FIR was earlier lodged on March 31 after an expensive bike was stolen from a location near Madhapur on the outskirts of the town. The owner of the motorcycle hails from Denua under Turumunga police limits. Acting on the FIR, Town police initiated a probe leading to the busting of the notorious gang.

Town police initially, seized four motorcycles from the possession of the engineering students. Based on the information that they provided, the probe team arrested their accomplice and seized a motorcycle from his possession. Police have also seized five mobile phones from them.

The accused persons were forwarded to court following their arrest. A detailed probe is underway, IIC Ramakant Sai said.