Bhubaneswar: A dangerous criminal was arrested after an encounter near Baliyatra Padiya under Mancheshwar police station here on Thursday. Officials said that accused criminal Raghu Biswal was seriously shot in the leg. “We received credible intelligence that two bike-riding miscreants were roaming suspiciously on the road near Baliyatra Padiya and targeting commuters walking on the road at around 3 am today. Mancheshwar police team soon reached the spot and found two people on the bike.
Wandering suspiciously. When the police team tried to approach them for verification, they tried to flee the spot on their motorcycle. When the criminals failed to escape, they opened fire on the police team. The police also retaliated by firing at the accused in self-defence,” said DCP Prateek Singh. He also said that both the accused fell from the bike during the firing.
They were trying to escape towards Nandankanan area. Accused Raghu was shot in the leg, while his associate Punia managed to escape from the spot. He said Biswal was involved in several criminal cases related to street robbery, dacoity and Arms Act etc. registered at Chandrashekharpur, Nayapalli, Shaheed Nagar police stations in the city. Raghu was taken to Capital Hospital for treatment, but doctors later shifted him to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for advanced treatment. We have found his involvement in around 10 criminal cases so far. He had also recently snatched a gold chain from a woman due to which the victim was injured and was also admitted to the hospital. His associate Punia is also involved in several criminal cases,” said DCP Singh. Police have seized a KTM bike, illegally purchased 7.65 mm pistol and five rounds of bullets from the spot. A joint team of Mancheshwar police and special squad officials are searching the surrounding areas and it is expected that the accused Punia will be arrested soon. He told that he is involved in many robbery cases in other districts also.
