BHUBANESWAR: A City-based businessman was robbed of `4.40 lakh in broad daylight by unidentified miscreants near Kharavela Nagar police station here on Wednesday afternoon. The victim, 75-year-old AK Holani, had withdrawn the cash from a private bank in Satya Nagar. He had kept the money in a bag and left it on the front seat of his car, which was manned by his driver, before going to another bank in Kharavela Nagar.
Holani’s daughter Abha Mohanty, a resident of Saheed Nagar, said some miscreants came on a motorcycle and told the car driver that his money had fallen on the road. As the driver became distracted, the miscreants opened the car’s front door and fled with the cash bag.
“The driver was alerted by passersby that the miscreants had stolen some valuables from the car. The driver was clueless and unable to note down the numbers of the motorcycles,” Mohanty said. When Holani returned from the bank, he found that the cash bag was missing from the car.
Sources said the miscreants had followed Holani before committing the crime. Following the incident, Mohanty’s husband Satyashiva Mohanty, who is an electrical contractor, lodged a complaint with Kharavela Nagar police in this regard.
Kharavela Nagar IIC Jnanendra Kumar Sahu said police have launched a search operation to trace the miscreants involved in the crime.In July last year, miscreants had looted a person in Kharavela Nagar by adopting a similar modus operandi. Two bike-borne criminals had robbed an employee of a private construction firm of `4 lakh near Sriya Square.