In broad daylight, a gang of six armed robbers looted 32 kgs of gold worth Rs 15.50 crore, at gunpoint, from a gold-loan company outlet in Burdwan. The robbers opened six rounds of fire for their escapade, injuring a former security guard of the outlet.
The robbers entered the outlet, located in the first floor of a market complex, masquerading as customers and covering their faces with helmet. They entered between 12:30 and 1 pm. Shortly after, they thrashed the security guard of the company and forced him to wear their helmet and overpowered him.
Brandishing firearms, they asked all the nine staff to surrender the keys to the vault. Surajit Baidya, a company staff said, “One miscreant inserted the pistol’s barrel into the mouth of our manager which made us panic but we managed to press the alarm button, sending SOS to the police and others. The device automatically dispatched a hotline message to our Delhi headquarters during the operation.”
The robbers however faced obstacle while climbing down the staircase when Hiramon, the former security guard, caught hold of one of the robbers. Hiramon was dragged down the flight of stairs as the miscreants attempted to flee but a pedestrian, Tarak Bose, managed to trap the robbers who were carrying the looted gold. Tarak said,
“Another miscreant suddenly appeared and fired at us, twice. He hit me on the head with the pistol’s butt”. Mr Mondal had a narrow escape from death as two shots fired at him grazed his body, leaving him with external wounds on his waist and chest.
His cell phone in the chestpocket was deformed by a bullet’s splinter. He was shifted to the Burdwan Medical College & Hospital and is now stable. The police is yet to interrogate him. The gang managed to flee on two motorbikes that were parked barely 20 metres away from the outlet on BC Road stretch in the town. SP Bhaskar Mukherjee led a police team to the branch.
He said, “We have recorded testimonies of the company staff. The surrounding areas were sealed immediately. The gang couldn’t be traced as of yet.”