In a daylight robbery, an armed gang of inter-state robbers looted over one kg of gold and silver ornaments worth about Rs 33 lakh from a newly-opened jewellery shop after threatening the owner at gunpoint at Muralinagar in the city on Tuesday.
According to the police, five robbers posing as customers entered the shop, Nanditha Jewellery, and asked the owner, Venkata Rao, to show some gold jeweller. As soon as Rao came out of the cash counter, the robbers threatened him at gunpoint to open the jewellery boxes. While one of them guarded the counter, others collected the ornaments. They tied the staff with a rope and fled the spot. Later, the shop owner lodged a complaint with the police.
The preliminary investigation revealed that one person spoke in Telugu with the victims while the others conversed in Hindi. They reportedly sped away in their vehicle towards Vijayawada on the national highway.
Visakhapatnam police commissioner J Poornachandra Rao visited the crime spot and the dog squad and finger print squad were pressed into the service. The police commissioner also announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 for people providing information about the theft. The Kancharapalem police registered a case.
The robbers arrived in a four-wheeler at around 2 pm and entered the shop, when the staff members had gone out for lunch. The shop owner Venkata Rao was sitting at the cash counter while his wife Dhanalaxmi was talking to her neighbours.