Jajpur: Taxi driver held for looting couple

Jajpur: Panikoili police arrested a taxi driver for allegedly looting a couple of their gold and diamond jewellery and Rs 2,000 in cash, officials said on Thursday. The arrested taxi driver has been identified as Prakash Chandra Barala, a resident of Kalapathar in Khurda district.

Reports said Tushar Priyadarshi and his wife had come from Bengaluru and hired a taxi in Bhubaneswar to go to Joda in Keonjhar on Wednesday. When the taxi reached Panikoili, Tushar asked the driver to stop the vehicle near a hotel for dinner. While the driver returned to his vehicle after dinner, the couple came 10 minutes later.

The couple then checked their belongings and found their gold jewellery, a diamond ring and cash of Rs 2,000 missing from their bag. They asked the driver about the missing items and cash, but he feigned ignorance.

Tushar then asked the driver to take them back to the hotel near Panikoili. He narrated his ordeal to the hotel owner. As the driver saw the owner checking the footage of a CCTV camera installed in front of the hotel, he dumped the luggage and sped away with the vehicle towards Chandikhole on NH-16

The hotel owner then informed the police who alerted their counterpart in Chandikhole. Chandikhole police intercepted the car and detained the driver. Based on the complaint filed by Tushar, Panikoili police arrested the taxi driver and recovered all stolen items and cash. “We have arrested the driver and registered a case under sections of BNS and seized his taxi. The accused has confessed to his crime during interrogation,” said Panikoili police station IIC Ranjan Kumar Pradhan.