5 Tito aides held plotting dacoity

CUTTACK: Police on Thursday arrested five associates of notorious gangster Tito while they were allegedly plotting to loot a jewellery shop in the city.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided an abandoned area near Gopal Jew Mutt under Purighat police limits and arrested the five. A revolver, two live bullets and two bombs were seized from their possession.The accused were identified as Md Sakil, 23, Sk Shamim,19, Chhabindra Jena,35, Santu Mukherjee,42, and Sankar Mandal, 26. Police said all of them are history-sheeters and wanted in many dacoity and loot cases.
The accused were scheming to loot a jewellery shop at Choudhary Bazaar, police said. However, two of the accused managed to flee.
"While 13 cases are pending against Sakil in different police stations in the city, Chhabindra is wanted in 18 cases. Santu and Sankar were also wanted in half a dozen extortion and Arms Act cases," said DCP (Cuttack) Sanjeev Arora.
"The accused were working for Tito gang. Their arrest has come as huge relief for us," said a senior police officer. The arrest of the dreaded criminals helped police crack the Agnee Computers bombing case. On May 23, two unidentified miscreants had hurled bombs on the computer shop at Arunodaya nagar. Two persons were injured. During interrogation of Sakil, police came to know that he was the mastermind.
"Sakil had demanded extortion money from the computer shop owner, but as his demand was not met, he orchestrated the bombing to threaten him," said a senior police officer of Badambadi police station.
"Sakil had committed the crime along with two of his associates Smruti Ranjan Barik and Sk Sanju. We have arrested them also," said the DCP.