ROURKELA: Unidentified miscreants allegedly shot a young jeweler dead and critically injured another person in Bagaron block of Sundargarh district on Monday morning.
Police sources said three bike-borne miscreants opened fire at jeweller Rohit Verma (26) when they failed to snatch a bag containing jewellery from him while he was opening the shutter of his shop at Bargaon.
"When Verma resisted the miscreants, they fired at him indiscriminately. Nearby shop owner Rohit Das (62), who intervened, also received bullet injuries. The assailants, however, dropped the fire arm while fleeing the spot. Verma and Das were rushed to a private hospital at Rourkela, about 70 km away where Verma was declared dead," said a police official.
This was third such shot out in the area in the last two-and-a-half months. All three crimes appeared to have common link. With the killers roaming free, jewellery businessmen across the district are scared.
Sundargarh SP Sagarika Nath took stock of the situation. She said two teams have been formed for on-ground investigation and another team is working with cyber cell. Asked if they were the same killers involved in two murders at Rourkela, the SP said, investigation is underway.
Earlier, three bike-borne miscreants had shot a woman jeweler Nirmal Soni at the TCI area of Brahmani Tarang police limits in Rourkela Police District (RPD), but failed in the loot attempt on December 14. She succumbed 13 days after the incident.
Again in the night on December 18, a salesman of a jewellery store Saroj Sahu (26) carrying jewelleries worth about Rs 20 lakh to the owner’s house was shot dead and looted by three miscreants on the STI road flyover under RN Pali police limits of RPD.
It is a common practice of small and medium jewellery store owners to carry their valuables home after the closure of shops and bring them back the next day for sale.