Police seek remand of dacoit having link with ex-Odisha MLA

Ayaskant Das Published On : Mar 14, 2016 at 10:16 PM Updated On : Mar 14, 2016 at 10:23 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 14:

Odisha police today sought a seven-day remand of a dacoit arrested from here for his alleged link with former Sanakhemundi legislator Ramesh Jena.

Odisha man sets shop afire as shopkeeper demands Rs 130 pending bill

Odisha: ‘Kajal-Bitu-Madhu’ burglary gang busted; over 1 kg gold ornaments seized, 4 held

The Berhampur police today moved a local court here and filed a petition to take Santosh Behera on remand for further investigation.

Notably, the Quick Action Team (QAT) of Commissionerate Police today arrested Santosh Behera and three others from Naharkanta on the outskirts of capital city.

“Four criminals have been arrested. A firearm with five rounds of live ammunition has been seized from their possession. Santosh Behera, one of the arrested persons, hail from Purushottampur in Ganjam district. We are verifying his criminal antecedants with the help of Ganjam police,” Twin City Police Commissioner YB Khurania said.

During preliminary investigation, police have claimed to have established link with the former Congress MLA Ramesh Jena who is presently in remand of Berhampur police.

Police found an identity card of a city-based karate training institute where Behera has furnished Ramesh Jena’s quarters address as local address. Besides, the mobile phone seized from his possession during his arrest has Ramesh Jena’s photograph as its screensaver.

Further, police have stumbled upon photographs in which Behera is seen posing in front of a luxury car seized recently and an SUV seized today. The photographs are believed to have been clicked in the official quarters premises while Ramesh Jena was a legislator.

Meanwhile, Berhampur police today interrogated Santosh to extract more information on his link with Ramesh Jena.

On the other hand, police today seized one more SUV belonging to Ramesh Jena from an automobile workshop here. With this, the number of vehicles seized has mounted to 12.

Berhampur police have formed three teams to find out Ramesh Jena’s links outside Odisha.

“We have formed three teams to investigate his inter-state business links,” Berhampur SP Sarthak Sarangi informed.