Bhubaneswar: An AK-47 rifle of a constable of Dhenkanal Reserve Police has allegedly been stolen from near a hotel near Bhogapuram area in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. The constable, identified as Abhimanyu Sahoo of Baisingha under Kamakhyanagar block of Dhenkanal district, has lodged a complaint with Bhogapuram police in this regard.
According to sources, a convoy comprising Odisha Administrative Service officers along with six constables had gone to Hyderabad to bring VVPAT machines for Dhenkanal district from a godown of Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). The officials had gone to Hyderabad with six containers guarded by one constable each.
Although they left Hyderabad together, later they got separated due to Cyclonic storm Titli. The staff of the container, which was guarded by Sahoo, stopped near a hotel to make a night halt. When Sahoo woke up the next morning, he found the glass of the container broken and his bag containing the rifle stolen. They also reportedly found the bag and some other belongings at a distance from the container. But the AK 47 rifle was missing, the sources added. Sahoo informed Dhenkanal superintendent of police (SP) Santosh Kumar Nayak about the incident over phone following which Nayak asked all the convoy members to go to the police station and lodge a theft complaint.
The convey members reached the Bhogapuram police station where a complaint was lodged and their statements recorded. The officers and other containers left the police station except Sahoo. They had gone to the ECIL for investigations, said the Dhenkanal SP, adding that the worried parents of Sahoo have also reached AP Tuesday.
PNN