Bihar: 3 robberies in one day, petrol pumps threaten agitation

PATNA: Unidentified armed criminals struck again on Friday and looted over Rs 20 lakh in three incidents in Samastipur, Patna and Vaishali districts. Angry over frequent incidents of cash loot from petrol pumps, the petroleum dealers’ association gave an ultimatum of 72 hours to Vaishali police to arrest the culprits, failing which they will launch an agitation.
Reports reaching the state police headquarters said four criminals entered the office of a private finance company near Saidpur Mela Gate under the Chak Mehasi police station in Samastipur district around 10am and looted cash amounting to Rs 17 lakh after holding the employees captive at gunpoint. The robbers had come as customers.
The company’s credit manager, Md Sadaquat Ansari, told the police that he was sitting with an employee, Subhash Kumar, when the robbers carried out the operation. The office gate was shut as the accounts were being checked. The robbers entered the office in the guise of customers wanting to deposit money. As soon as the gate was opened, they held the employees captive. “I had no option but to hand over the keys of the locker. They collected Rs 17,35,560 and escaped on their motorbikes, which were parked outside. I raised an alarm but they had escaped with two bags full of cash. They also took away my mobile phone. By then the local people had arrived.” DSP Pritish Kumar, who rushed to the spot, said the CCTVs were not working as they had developed some fault.
In another incident, unidentified armed motorbike-borne criminals looted Rs 2.37 lakh from an employee of a cold storage when he was about to enter a bank near Anisabad Mor under the Gardanibagh police station area here.
In Vaishali, unidentified criminals looted Rs70,000 from an employee of a cooking gas agency near ROB under Hajipur sadar police station. Two criminals, who had covered their faces with cloths, reached the spot and snatched the bag containing money when the employee was engaged in collecting cash from vendors. Later, Hajipur additional SP Raghav Dayal visited the spot and inquired about the daylight cash loot from the employee of the agency, owned by a senior BJP leader of Muzaffarpur.