Keonjhar, Jan 17: In a major crackdown on illegal cattle trading, Keonjhar district police on Saturday carried out simultaneous raids at 46 locations across four districts—Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Bhadrak—following directions from the Keonjhar court.
The large-scale operation was led by two Additional Superintendents of Police and involved five DSPs, 25 Inspectors, 36 Sub-Inspectors and 18 platoons of police force.
By 10 am, police had detained several suspected cattle traders and seized huge quantities of cash, gold, silver, vehicles and other valuables.
In Bhadrak, cattle trader Sheikh Ranjan was detained. Police seized ₹60 lakh in cash, 7.62 grams of gold, 21.80 grams of silver, and two Scorpio vehicles from his possession.
In Keonjhar’s Samantraypur, Tipu Sultan was detained, with police recovering ₹30 lakh cash, 200 grams of gold, 1.17 kg of silver, a Brezza car and four motorcycles.
At Turumunga in Keonjhar, Kunu Sahu, Mantu Sahu and Sipu Sahu were detained. Police seized ₹5,000 in cash, several gold ornaments, silver anklets and rings, and two motorcycles.
In Mayurbhanj district, police seized ₹3.5 lakh cash, 68 grams of gold and 314 grams of silver during a raid in Karanjia.
At Bishoi, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra was detained with ₹30.09 lakh cash, 35.76 grams of gold, 95.6 grams of silver, a Mahindra XUV 300 and a Bullet motorcycle.
In Jharpokharia, Sujit Mohanty was detained and ₹32.55 lakh cash, 298.87 grams of gold and 71 grams of silver were seized.
Police also seized a pickup van and a Bolero vehicle from Guhalia in the district.
In Jajpur’s Baruan area, police recovered ₹1.65 lakh cash, 35 grams of gold, 500 grams of silver, and seized multiple vehicles including a Thar, Creta and Swift car, along with two Bullet motorcycles, two bikes, two scooters, 16 wristwatches and 13 mobile phones.
In Harichandanpur area of Keonjhar district, Kuna Pathan and Nasir were detained. Police seized ₹4.13 lakh cash and gold ornaments from them.
Police officials said raids are still underway at several other locations, and further seizures and arrests are likely as the investigation continues.
