Srikakulam police arrest five in jewellery shop robbery

Visakhapatnam: The Srikakulam district police arrested five members of a gang in connection with last month's dacoity at Sri Venkateswara Jewellers in Palasa-Kasibugga town in the district.The criminals, posing as GST and police officers, entered a jewellery shop at Nithyananda Nagar in Palasa-Kasibugga town of Srikakulam district on April 7 and looted 800 grams of gold ornaments after handcuffing the owner, Killamsetti Ramakrishna Rao, and threatening the owner and staff at gunpoint.Srikakulam district police chief KV Maheswara Reddy said the police solved the dacoity case and recovered 243 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 31.5 lakh, Rs 3.41 lakh cash, four cars, a 9 mm pistol and 9 mm cartridge-5, a 7.65 mm pistol and two magazines, 7.65 mm cartridge-11 (all worth over Rs 49 lakh) from the dacoity gang.The arrested persons have been identified as Ramachandra Sahu (43), alias Babu, a resident of Lathi village, Bodo Dandasahi in Ganjam district, Odisha; Kuna Barik (36), a resident of Denga Paduro village, Kabisuryanagar Block in Ganjam district, Odisha; Banoj Bihari Patnaik (32), a resident of Balarampur, Kamahar Sahi, Khordha district in Odisha; Tapan Maharana (41), a resident of Gopinathpur Nova Sahi in Banpur Block, Khordha district, Odisha; and Potnuru Tirumala Patro (56), a resident of Palasa-Kasibugga in Srikakulam district.The investigation revealed that Tirumala Patro and Kuna Barik decided to loot the jewellery shop in 2023, and they conducted a recce three to four times. Patro and Barik, with five others, travelled on three bikes and in one car from Bhubaneswar to Kasibugga on different routes, avoiding the toll gates and CCTV cameras. Though the gang planned to loot the gold shop on April 5, their efforts proved futile because the shop closed early that day.At noon on April 7, the seven members of the gang reached the gold shop on three bikes sans number plates. Wearing masks, sunglasses and caps, they entered the shop, claiming to be officials from the GST and police departments searching. The gang sprayed black paint on CCTV cameras in the gold shop, immediately handcuffed the owners, threatened the owner and staff with a gun, collected gold ornaments and fled from the spot on bikes.Based on CCTV footage near a bank, the police intensified the investigation and identified the gang after collecting details from automobile stores. The gang was involved in such crimes in parts of Odisha, and they were involved in 32 crimes, including cases of dacoity with arms. The investigation is ongoing to nab two more persons in connection with the case and recover some more stolen gold jewellery.