Civic volunteer foils robbery attempt

Malda: An on-duty civic volunteer (CV) foiled a robbery attempt in Harishchandrapur under Bhutni Police Station. On May 27 at about 1:45 am, the police station received information from on-duty CV that 7 to 8 armed miscreants had gathered near PNB bank and fired 2 to 3 rounds.

On receipt of this information, the police chased the criminals who had assembled in front of the bank with firearms. Due to the spontaneous and quick response of the police party, the miscreants aborted their attempt and fled. The miscreants managed to flee under the cover of darkness but they left behind one motorcycle, one improvised firearm (pipe gun fitted with 4 batteries and an electrical trigger), 15 live cartridges each connected with electrical wire and 8 fired cartridges each connected with electrical wire. The police have started a specific case and an investigation is on. In another case, the police arrested two within 24 hours of a robbery in the house of a retired police officer at Madhabnagar area under English Bazar Police Station. Both the accused were produced in court on Monday. A search for the other members of the gang has also been initiated.

The accused are Dasrath Das of Molpur and Samrat Das of Mangalbari. Incidentally, a gang of 6 robbers had broken into the house of a retired cop, Prakash Singha, in the early hours of Sunday. He was allegedly injured and tied up with a rope and the house was then ransacked by the armed miscreants. According to family sources, cash and gold ornaments worth at least Rs 20 lakh were stolen from the house.