CUTTACK: In a brazen daylight robbery, unidentified miscreants looted cash, gold and silver ornaments worth over Rs 5 lakh from a gold merchant near Matagajpur railway level crossing within Kandarpur police limits here on Wednesday.
The incident took place at about 11 am when the merchant Bikash Patra of Hata Sahi was going on his scooty with cash, gold and silver ornaments to Nuabazar. As per his allegation, four persons followed him on two bikes and intercepted him at the railway level crossing. One of them kicked Patra’s vehicle following which he fell down.
The miscreants ordered him to open his vehicle’s dickey. Patra, however, tried to run away with the vehicle key. Seeing him flee, the four began to break his vehicle’s boot. In a bid to protect his cash and valuables, Patra started pelting stones from a distance.
The miscreants then opened fire at him. However, he was lucky as the bullets missed him. The four, meanwhile, were able to break open the boot and took away cash of Rs 25,000, three gold chains weighting about 30 grams and some silver ornaments. The looted cash and ornaments are estimated to be over Rs 5 lakh.
On being informed, police rushed to the spot and launched an investigation into the incident. Two empty bullet shells have been recovered from the spot.Locals have blamed that the crime occurred in the broad daylight ahead of the festive season due to lack of police patrolling in Matagajur area.
DCP Pinak Mishra said that the matter will be dealt with utmost seriousness. A special team has been formed to detect the case and nab the miscreants at the earliest. “We are verifying the CCTV footage to identify the miscreants. Effort is on to catch them as soon as possible,” said Mishra.