Armed dacoits loot retired HC judge's house in Odisha

A gang of armed dacoits allegedly robbed retired Odisha High Court judge Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty's house here in the wee hours of today.
Justice (retd) Mohanty is currently heading the Judicial Commission of Enquiry probing into the Pipili gang rape and murder incident of 2012.
The dacoits after tying the 70-year-old Mohanty, his wife and daughter-in-law in a room and broke open the shelves and decamped with cash and jewelleries worth over Rs 50 lakh, police said, adding, that the dacoits escaped with Mohanty's car that was later traced near Rasulgarh, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, about 20 km from here, the police said.

"More than 7 to 8 persons entered into my bedroom around 3.15 am and woke me up demanding cash and jewelleries in the house pointing knives at me. When my wife woke up, they tied our hands and legs threatening us at gunpoint not to make any noise. Enquiring about other members in the house, they brought our ailing daughter-in-law from the first floor and also held her under captive in our room," Mohanty said.
All of them were speaking in Hindi with Telugu accent, Mohanty said.
While Mohanty's younger son stays at Bangalore, his elder son Haripada, an advocate, had gone to Berhampur on Friday. Incidentally, Mohanty's domestic help, a native of Berhampur, was also not at work for last four days.

The police have detained the domestic help and quizzing him, said the city DCP Sanjib Arora refusing to divulge the details now.
"We have formed four teams to investigate the case and are hopeful to detect it soon," Arora said.
Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjeev Marik and City Police Commissioner R P Sharma visited the spot and admitted that the incident has ashamed the police and is a challenging one.