Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate police arrested a robber in connection with robbery at Odisha Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik's residence in Bhubaneswar. 

The accused has been identified as Karri Satti Babu alias SATTI alias Satheesh alias Satheesh Reddy alias Spider Satish alias Bujji Stephen, a resident of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. He was nabbed from Vizianagaram-Vishakhapatnam area in the neighbouring state. 

The Commissionerate police caught the high-profile robber with help of the local police around 17 days after the incident. 

Karri Satti Babu is a habitual interstate property offender with more than 100 property offense cases (out of which 11 cases ended in conviction) registered against him in different states, including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, and Odisha. He was recently released from Trivandrum Central Jail on 04.09.2024 in connection with a crime in Thiruvananthapuram Rural District, Kerala. He was charged twice under Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug offenders, Gunddas, Immoral traffic offenders & Land grabbers ACT 1986, revealed the Commissionerate Police today.

On January 25 night, the burglar allegedly entered the master bedroom of Niranjan Patnaik's house located at VIP Colony under Nayapalli police limits in Bhubaneswar. He allegedly robbed cash and articles including gold jewelries worth over Rs 50 lakh from the second floor of the building where former Odisha PCC President's elder son Devjyoti Patnaik and his family stay. 

The accused is a habitual house burglar who targets apartments and villas in city areas. He uses a torch light, hand gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints at the crime scene, shoes to avoid leaving footprints, a mask to cover his face, screwdrivers, and other housebreaking tools, the Police said.

Narrating the burglary at former Odisha Minister's residence, the police said that the accused entered the complainant's house through a glass sliding window and used the same window to escape after committing the burglary on January 25/26, 2025. 

He uses buses and taxies to travel from one to another city for commission of crime and never use mobile phones during crime. Previously, he was lodged in different jails of Southern Indian States and targets only rich and high profile VIP's house. 

The incident occured a few hours before the Republic Day, January 26, amid tight security across Bhubaneswar city for the celebrations.