Bhubaneswar: Police arrested Soumya Ranjan Jena here Monday for looting two banks in the state capital. Incidentally, he looted the same banks from where he had taken loans to start his business. The accused has confessed to the crime, police said. They informed that Jena had looted the banks to repay his loans.
Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi at a press conference said Monday that the accused has confessed to his crime. He informed that Jena had taken loans to the tune of Rs 19 lakh to start a business after passing out of college earlier this year. He had taken the loans from Bank of India (Barimunda branch) in Mancheswar area and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) in Infocity locality.
However, Jena’s attempts to start a business fizzled out due to the lockdown implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus and the subsequent restrictions that followed.
Unable to repay the loans, Jena was in a fix. To add to his problems were constant calls from the banks to pay the installments. Unable to meet the requirements, Jena decided to loot the two banks from those he had taken loans from, said Sarangi.
Being an educated guy, Jena planned his actions in a very meticulous manner. He watched various programmes on YouTube and television to understand the modus operandi of looting banks. Among the programmes he followed on TV were ‘Crime Patrol’ and ‘Savdhaan India’. He also carried out a recce of the localities where the banks are situated.
Jena then bought two toy guns and swung into action. First he decamped with Rs 2.80 lakh from IOB September 7 and then September 28, he looted Rs 10 lakh from the BOI.
“We were completely in the dark initially as in such cases it is criminals from outside Odisha that are involved in bank loot cases. Also Jena did not have any criminal background. So it was difficult for us to identify him,” said Sarangi.
“In the CCTV footage from both banks we saw only a single person involved in the loot. He was wearing a black dress, gloves, mask and helmets. So it was difficult to identify the accused. However, we managed to solve the case as the accused was addressing the people in Odia. Usually that never happens. It led us to believe that someone local had committed the burglary and that is how the police managed to nab Jena,” added Sarangi.
Sarangi also stated that police have recovered Rs 10 lakh from the accused.
PNN