Bhubaneswar, Oct 5 (IANS): Odisha Police have arrested a 25-year-old man, who robbed two banks of Rs 12 lakh in Bhubaneswar last month after learning the robbery techniques from Youtube.

The youth has been identified as Soumyaranjan Jena from Tangibanta village on the city outskirts. He robbed the Indian Overseas Bank and the Bank of India last month to recover losses from business suffered during the Covid-19 lockdown.

He owns a shop in his village where he sells sarees, shoes and other items. His monthly turnover before the lockdown was Rs 9 lakh, Police Commissioner Sudhansu Sarangi said on Monday.

Soumyaranjan had looted nearly Rs 12 lakh from the Indian Overseas Bank near the Infocity area on September 7, and the Bank of India's Barimunda branch on September 28.

"The accused belongs to a good family and runs a shop in his village. He had taken loans of Rs 19 lakh from both the banks he looted. As he could not repay the loan, he committed the crime after learning the techniques from Youtube," said Sarangi.

Interestingly, he repaid a part of the loan from the looted money.

After looting the Indian Overseas Bank with a toy gun, he had bought a pistol by using the looted money. Later, he used the pistol and the toy gun to loot the second bank.

Over Rs 10 lakh, toy guns and a vehicle have been recovered from the accused.