At least four dacoits carried out a daring daylight robbery at the Muthoot Finance office here, in which one auditor was shot dead and two staffers injured, police said.

The masked robbers waving pistols barged into the company's office in a busy commercial area of Untwadi, pushed around staffers and customers and opened fire to scare them, eyewitnesses said.

They quickly grabbed an unspecified amount of cash from the cash boxes and decamped from the place within minutes on motorcycles, Deputy Comissioner of Police Laxmikant Patil told mediapersons later.

In the mayhem, Sajju Samuel, described as an auditor, sustained three bullet injuries and succumbed instantly in the company premises.

Two staffers - Chandrashekhar Deshpande and Kailash Jain - were injured when the robbers assaulted them with the butts of the guns. They have been admitted to a local hospital where their condition was described as stable.

A security guard managed to sound the alarm which scared the robbers who again opened fire and fled.

Nashik Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare-Patil and other senior officers were personally supervising the investigations into the sensational dacoity which stunned Nashik today.

Police have secured CCTV grabs of the robbers, erected roadblocks at all exit points from the city and the district, special teams have been set up and a manhunt launched to nab the culprits.

--IANS

qn/kr

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