Police arrest 3 for prof house robbery

BHUBANESWAR: Police on Tuesday said it cracked the June 27 daylight robbery at the residence of professor Krushna Chandra Singh at Sailashree Vihar here and arrested his former driver Ashok Pangari for allegedly masterminding the crime.
On the fateful afternoon, Pangari sent three of his associates to Singh’s residence for the loot, police said. Police arrested two of his aides, Bhajamana Khatei and ichitrananda Baliarsingh, while the third accused, Sangram Mohanty, is still at large.
Singh had gone to his workplace while his wife Jyotsna was alone at home when the three miscreants reached the double-storey house around 12.30pm and pressed the calling bell. The moment Jyotsna answered the door, the hooligans barged into the house and held her hostage at knife-point. The accused tied her and decamped with valuables worth over Rs 2 lakh, police said.
Police zeroed in on Pangari after finding that he left job just a week before the robbery. Police said it was a challenging task for them to proceed in the investigation as Singh had not collected details of his driver before giving him employment last month. “Though we have been sensitizing landlords to collect details of their employees, the professor had only known his driver’s nickname, Kalu. Surprisingly, the professor did not know the driver’s full name and his native. Pangari worked for just one month, conducted a recce and drew up a blueprint for the crime. He was staying at Singh’s house while doing the job,” commissioner of police R P Sharma said. “Pangari knew Singh’s wife stays alone in the afternoon as the couple’s children stay in Bengaluru,” Sharma said.
Police managed to establish Pangari’s identity by tracing his cellphone, whose number was with Singh. Pangari and his associates belonged to Nayagarh district. During interrogation Pangari confessed to the crime and disclosed names of his aides.
Police said all the accused were having criminal antecedents. “The four were involved in dacoity and robbery cases in Nayagarh in 2013 and 2015. This was the first time they have been arrested,” DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said. “Pangari executed previous crimes in similar fashion. His modus operandi was to work in houses for short periods for the purpose of robbery,” Bhoi said.