Highway loot case: 9th arrest, Rs 1.5 lakh seized

The detective department (DD) of Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC) has arrested the ninth accused in the national highway – 19 loot case at gunpoint from a vehicle near the Banskopa toll plaza, under Kanksha police station limits.

Lokesh Kakkar (50), the 9th accused, was arrested from his house in Panagarh Bazar area last night. He has been forwarded to court and taken into police custody.

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The DD officers had arrested Lokesh Kakkar, near Randiha More and Panagarh Bazar and seized Rs 1.5 lakh from his house. This is the first seizure in this loot case.

Except Kartik Jha, a resident of Ahmedabad, all the other eight accused are in police custody in this case at present for further investigations.

The Customs officials posted at Malda district – Sandip Jha and Motilal Biswas have already been arrested by Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC) from Durgapur.

The gang had looted more than Rs 40 lakh cash from a person who was going to Kolkata by road from Patna in the wee hours on 12 September. The gang had threatened him with dire consequences, if he lodged a complaint to police. However, after a few days on 24 September, he had managed courage and lodged a FIR at Kanksha police station.

Commissioner of Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC), Sunil Kumar Choudhary himself is supervising the progress and investigations in this case. He had formed a special team comprising officials from the detective department (DD) of ADPC to probe the incident.