arrested a dacoit gang that looted Rs 40 lakh from the staff of a private company in Rayagada district last week and found that one of the employees was the mastermind of the operation, the police said.
The looted amount was also recovered from them.
The employees, after withdrawing the cash from a bank at Rayagada, were going to Tikiri by a jeep for disbursement of staff salaries on Thursday when they the armed dacoits attacked them at Kaliapada under Tikiri police station and looted the money.
The mastermind behind the loot was an employee, Kartika Nayak, who filed the FIR following the loot. He was carrying the bag containing the cash during the dacoity, the sources said.
Five mobile sets, an axe and some lathis have also been seized from the dacoits, he said.