Petrol pump manager shot at, robbed of Rs 6.86 lakh in Patna

PATNA: Unidentified criminals shot at a petrol pump manager and looted Rs6.86 lakh from him near Zero Mile under Ramkrishna Nagar police station in Patna on Wednesday.
The injured Munna Rai (40), along with another staff, had parked his bike around 10.30am and was about to enter the Union Bank of India branch to deposit the cash of Sonali petrol pump when criminals shot at him and fled with the cash, City SP (east) Jitendra Kumar said.
“Munna received a gunshot injury in his thigh and is undergoing treatment at a nearby private hospital,” he said.
The SP said the criminals had probably been following the employees from the petrol pump itself. He said police had got some CCTV camera footages of the suspects and were working to ascertain their identities.
Kumar said though only one empty cartridge was recovered from the spot, police came to know that criminals had fired several rounds during the incident. “The money was collected from sales on Tuesday,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bihar Petroleum Dealers’ Association general secretary Bijendra Sinha said they have become a soft target for criminals. “The bank is less than a kilometre away from the petrol pump whose manager was shot at and looted on Wednesday,” he said.
“Though we have been asked to get security cover from the police station concerned, but practically it is impossible as there are multiple petrol pumps under one police station,” he said.
Sinha said it would be better to develop some mechanism that money from all pumps under one police station is collected and police escort it to a bank. “There is no option for us but to continue depositing money as until oil companies are paid, they won’t deliver us fuel,” he added.