Bolangir: Police have arrested seven Dadan Sardars from a lodge in Kantabanji area of Bolangir district late Thursday night and seized over 58 lakhs from them.
The arrested have been identified as Paveluri Venglair (46) of Hyderabad district of Andhra Pradesh, P. Gopi Naidu (36), A. Laxman (32), P. Shrinivas, A. Babu Das Naik (36), B. Ramesh Naik (35) of Sangareddy district and K. Venkateswara Rao (42) of Narayanpet District.
Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid at Shree Annapurna Lodge at around 1 am and arrested the accused. The cops have also seized Rs 58.52 lakhs of cash from their possession.
The arrested accused will be forwarded to court today, a police official said.
While the police claimed that the arrested people were gambling in the Kantabanji hotel, locals alleged that every year Dadan Sardars from Andhra Pradesh come here to hire bonded labourers through local brokers or middlemen. they also claimed that around Rs 80 lakhs were seized from the hotel, but the police claimed that only 58.52 lakhs were seized.
A proper investigation into the arrests and seizures could unravel the actual details of the case.