Berhampur: Masked gun-toting criminals Wednesday injured three staffers of a gold loan firm near De Paul School in Baidyanathpur police limits here after their attempt to loot gold ornaments and cash were thwarted.
The incident set off shock waves in the area as panicked residents demanded that police crack down on rising criminal activities in the city.
ASP Prabhat Routray, Baidyanathpur IIC Sarada Prasanna Das, Lanjipalli OIC Narayan Swain rushed to the spot. The injured staffers of IIFL gold loan firm were admitted to City Hospital. A forensic team collected fingerprints left by the criminals from the spot.
Police sealed all entry and exit points of the city and checked all incoming and outgoing vehicles. It also collected CCTV footage from the office of the gold loan firm to find those involved in the crime.
IIC Das said four persons wearing masks barged into the office of IIFL after it opened for business at 10.30 am while a fifth person wearing a helmet waited outside. Once in, one of the robbers held three officials at gunpoint and asked them to hand over the locker key. They also brandished guns at the officials and asked them to keep quiet.
Cashier Mihir Pradhan said they do not have the key to open the locker as theirs was only a branch whose head office is at Mumbai. The locker could be opened only if the head office gives them the one time password (OTP), they said.
This enraged the criminals who assaulted Pradhan and his colleagues D Sridhar Achari and Mrutyunjaya Nahak with their guns. Later, they tried the three with a galvanized wire, locked them inside the bathroom and fled.
They also threatened a woman sweeper. The woman said the criminals were conversing in Hindi. The cashier said that a youth from outside had come for loan Tuesday, but was refused as he was an outsider.
PNN