Bhubaneswar: An alert citizen’s timely information helped Bhubaneswar police foil a planned burglary and insurance fraud, leading to the arrest of 13 people who were preparing to execute the crime, officials said on Thursday.

According to Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena, the mastermind, Santosh Kumar Moharana, has been running a plywood business at Tamando Bazar since 2016 but had been facing severe financial distress due to business losses.

Unable to pay house rent for the past one and a half years and burdened with a loan of ₹3 lakh, Moharana allegedly conspired with his former employee, Manoj Sejpada, to stage a fake burglary at his own shop in a bid to claim insurance money.

Acting on a tip-off from a vigilant citizen, Tamando police conducted a raid around 2:30 am on Thursday and a

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