Criminal gang involved in at Hockey India’s ex-captain’s residence held

By Sukanta Kumar Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 28: The Odisha police on Friday paraded before the local media here five members of a criminal gang that was behind the recent robbery at the house of former India hockey skipper Prabodh Tirkey.

The police said a manhunt was on to apprehend a few more members of the gang in connection with the crime.

The apprehended accused were identified as Chittaranjan Dalai, Sukant Dalai, Ganga Reddy, Milu Behera and Raja Mahalik. ACP (Zone 1) Manas Gadnayak. According to police, the arrested criminals have more than 100 cases pending against them in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and other police stations in the state.

The cops claimed they had recovered 14 medals, including one gold, eight silver and five bronze; and a portion of the jewellery items the criminals had robbed from the house of the hockey star.

The robbers had targeted Tirkey’s quarters VR-86 located in Unit-6 area on January 20.

“The accused mostly used to target houses, especially quarters which were locked from outside. The gang members first used to conduct recee during the day time and barge into houses from various conservancy lanes and commit the crime. Then they used to transport stolen articles in an auto-rickshaw,” said Gadnayak.

Among the accused, over 35 cases are registered against Sukant and six cases against Chitaranjan. The gang was also involved in the burglary at the quarters of OAS Jyoti Mishra and others in the past. The Capital Police have recovered all the articles, including medals and other valuables stolen from the house of Prabodh Tirkey.

Born in Sundergarh district of Odisha, the 39-year-old Prabodh Tirkey was the national captain of sub-junior, junior and India A Team before becoming captain of the India senior team. He was part of the India team that won the 2007 Asia Cup in Chennai.