Jajpur, Oct 18: A taxi driver was arrested for allegedly looting jewellery and cash from a Bengaluru couple on Thursday, police said.
According to reports, Tushar Priyadarshi and his wife from Bengaluru had come to Bhubaneswar for some work and hired the taxi on Wednesday to go to Joda in Keonjhar.
When the taxi reached Panikoili on NH-16 in the night, Tushar asked Prakash to park the vehicle near a hotel for dinner. Prakash returned to the vehicle first and the couple came 10 minutes later.
However, on the way when the couple checked their belongings in the taxi, a gold chain, three pairs of earrings, a diamond ring and cash of Rs 2,000 was found missing from the bag. When Tushar asked the driver about the missing valuables, the latter pleaded ignorance.
Then Tushar asked the driver to return to the hotel where they had dinner. On reaching there, he narrated his ordeal to the hotel owner who checked the CCTV footage following which the driver dumped the luggage of the couple before the hotel and sped away with the vehicle towards Chandikhole.
Meanwhile, the hotel owner informed the matter to local police and subsequently their Chandikhole counterpart was alerted. Chandikhole police intercepted the car and took Prakash into custody. Later, he was handed over to Panikoili police in the night.
Based on the complaint filed by Tushar, Panikoili police arrested Prakash and recovered all stolen articles from his possession. “We have arrested the driver and seized the taxi. The accused confessed to his crime during interrogation,” said Panikoili IIC Ranjan Kumar Pradhan.
