Five Arrested for Looting Medals & Valuables from Hockey Olympian Prabodh Tirkey’s House

Bhubaneswar: Five persons allegedly involved in the theft of medals and other valuables from the residence of former Indian hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey in the Unit-VI area of Bhubaneswar were arrested on Friday.

According to police sources, the arrested persons were identified as Chitta Ranjan Dalei (30), Sukant Nayak (34), Milu Behera (39), G Ganga (30), and Rajka Mahalik (20). The arrested persons have past records of burglaries and thefts in the twin city.

Police recovered 14 medals, gold ornaments, a camera, two mobile phones, and an LED TV from the possession of the arrested persons.

According to a complaint lodged by Prabodh at Capital Police Station of Bhubaneswar on January 21, some miscreants had taken away his medals, several other valuables including gold ornaments, and a 55-inch smart TV from his house on January 20 night.

The stolen medal included the gold medal he had won for the FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup in Australia in 2001, the bronze medal in the 2010 Asian Games in China, a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi.

This theft took place while he was in Rourkela to attend the ongoing Hockey World Cup matches.