Balasore: Dreaded interstate criminal Ratan Das alias Jaga was found dead close to his home at Kuruntiapada village under Kamarda police limits in this district late Friday night.
According to sources, some local people spotted Ratan’s blood-soaked body lying on the road Saturday morning.
On being informed, Kamarda police along with a scientific team reached the spot and started a probe. Later, his body was sent for postmortem.
Prima facie, it appears that some miscreants mowed him down with a truck, a source in the police said.
Another source in the area said the deceased man was last seen in the locality extorting money from the driver of an unidentified four-wheeler. They were later seen engaged in a hot verbal duel.
The deceased criminal had a number of criminal cases including attempt to murder, dacoity, firearm smuggling and extortion pending against him at several police stations in Odisha and other states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
PNN