This story is from December 10, 2020

Bihar: Jewellery worth Rs 7 crore looted in daylight Darbhanga robbery

In a daylight robbery barely an hour before a high-level meeting was chaired by Nitish Kumar to review law and order situation in the state, an armed gang looted jewellery worth Rs 7 crore and Rs 2 lakh in cash from a jeweller in Darbhanga on Wednesday. They also shot at and injured an employee of an adjacent store while fleeing.
Bihar: Jewellery worth Rs 7 crore looted in daylight Darbhanga robbery
Image used for representational purpose only
DARBHANGA/PATNA: In a daylight robbery barely an hour before a high-level meeting was chaired by Nitish Kumar to review law and order situation in the state, an armed gang looted jewellery worth Rs 7 crore and Rs 2 lakh in cash from a jeweller in Darbhanga on Wednesday. They also shot at and injured an employee of an adjacent store while fleeing.
The robbers wearing face masks barged into Alankar Jewellers located at Bada Bazar under Town police station around 10.30 am.
They held the shop owner, Sunil Lath, and six employees captive at gunpoint and carried out the loot in less than10 minutes.
The shop owner’s brother, Pawan Kumar Lath, said, “Five robbers entered the shop one after another while three others stood guard outside keeping a watch. The criminals first collected the ornaments put on display for customers and then from a chest.”
One of the robbers threatened to shoot the owner when he delayed opening the chest. They collected the gold ornaments in a bag and escaped after firing in the air outside the shop. However, they dropped a bag containing some ornaments while fleeing, he added.
Raj Kumar, stated to be an employee of an adjacent jewellery shop, was shot at and injured by the robbers while fleeing. The injured man is said to be out of danger, according to a press release issued by the police headquarters. The exact value of the looted jewellery is under evaluation, the released added.
Pawan Lath claimed that the manner of the robbery hinted at the involvement of professional criminals. Locals said the gang members had parked their motorbikes hardly 200 metres away from the shop.

“People realised a robbery was taking place only when the criminals opened fire indiscriminately to intimidate the local traders and keep them at bay,” said Santosh Lath, a local.
Darbhanga SSP Babu Ram said three empty cartridges recovered from the spot. A sniffer dog has been pressed into service to trace the criminals. “An FSL team later visited the site and collected samples,” he added.
An investigating officer said, “The entire incident is on CCTV footage. Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the criminals involved in one of the biggest robberies in the town on Wednesday.”
According to ADGP (headquarters) Jitendra Kumar, Darbhanga City SP Ashok Prasad will head the SIT formed under the supervision of Darbhanga range IG.
“Three separate teams are raiding possible hideouts of the robbers. An STF team has been despatched from the police headquarters to assist the district police, and the CID SP will assist in the probe,” the ADGP said. Senior officers at the police headquarters are monitoring the investigation, Kumar added.
Expressing concern over the daring incident, the BJP MLA from Darbhanga Town Sanjay Sarawogi said, “It appears that the fear of police is gone among the anti-socials, who are committing crimes at will.”
Bank agent shot, Rs 1 lakh looted in Gaya: Two miscreants looted Rs one lakh from Pawan Singh, a collection agent of Bandhan bank. The miscreants shot Pawan in the thigh when he resisted their loot bid at Nadraganj under Civil Lines police station area on Wednesday morning. Pawan is recuperating at the Magadh medical college. City SP Rakesh Kumar said, “Police have launched intensive vehicle checking in the town area to identify the miscreants behind the incident.”
(Inputs by Alok Kumar in Gaya)
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