‘Spider Satish’ held for burglary in Niranjan’s house
The accused was arrested from the outskirts of Vizianagaram after examining more than 400 CCTV footage, call records of 10,000 phone numbers and 50 suspects
Bhubaneswar: Police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly stealing Rs 2.50 lakh cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 50 lakh from the house of senior Odisha Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik on January 26, a senior police officer said.
The accused was identified as Satish Reddy alias Spider Satish, a native of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Speaking to reporters here, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said, “We arrested the accused from the outskirts of Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh after examining more than 400 CCTV footage, call records of 10,000 phone numbers and 50 suspects.” As the burglar covered his entire body, including face with a mask and hands with gloves, it was a very difficult task before police to identify the accused, he said.
“Multiple specialised police teams were formed to crack the case. The teams visited different places in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala for investigation and finally, it was found that the accused was in Kerala jail for some time in connection with a case,” he said.
“Satish was involved in at least 17 such cases including two cases in Odisha. He robbed the house of a renowned contractor in the same area in Bhubaneswar in 2023,” Singh said.
The Police Commissioner said, “We have seized a car, stolen cash, gold ornaments and other items such as apparel, shoes and a torch which he used to commit the crime.” Almost all stolen items and cash were recovered from the accused and those handed over to the victim, said Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra.
“We got all the stolen cash and most of the ornaments. Our police force is quite capable of cracking such a burglary case. But, there is a need to provide them quality training so that they can crack difficult crime cases more efficiently,” said Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik.
It may be recalled that cash, gold ornaments and valuables worth more than Rs 50 lakh were stolen from the residence of Niranjan Patnaik in Bhubaneswar’s Nayapalli area on January 26.
CCTV camera footage showed that the man entered the house around 2.40 am. He made his way to the second floor, entered a bedroom and stole gold ornaments and cash stored in a locker.
