KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Oct 1: In a broad-day-light incident, a gang of three armed criminals looted Rs 1.5 lakh at gun point from a potato trader in the crowded Mango market on Friday morning.
While two of the criminals had covered their faces, the third one had impersonified as a customer for dealing with the trader.
All the three had come on foot and having committed the loot they fled the scene by taking a route through a narrow road along the Subarnarekha river.
The incident has taken place along Dimma road near the Munsi Mohalla at about 10.30 am.
The victim Gurfan Khan (45) who was also injured on being hit by pistol’s butt by the looters said the incident took place after an hour of opening the shop.
“A youth came and asked the rate of a sackful of potato. As I was talking to him two masked men swooped over me. While one of them hit me on my head with a pistol butt, the other two took the cash from the cash-box before all the three fleeing the scene, ” said the victim while talking to newsmen.
Gurfan said he had instantly informed the Mango thana, leading a police party to reach the spot immediately. He pointed out he has suspicion that some of the looters must have knowledge about his business.
Police have swung into action after taking a statement from the victim.
“We have taken the CCTV footage of the incident and are trying to detect the case,” said deputy superintendent of police (Headquarters-I) Birendra Ram.
Ram, when queried, confirmed the incident of loot to be true, but said they have doubts about the amount looted.
“The victim has a wholesale business of potato. How could he manage to sell potato worth Rs 1.5 lakhs within one hour of opening the shop? ” Ram quipped.
