SURAT: Three gun-totting unidentified robbers targetted a jewellery showroom on Bhaiya Nagar Main Road in Puna area on Sunday morning and fled with a bag containing a laptop and a few pen drives.
However, in their mistaken adventure, one of the robbers even took a potshot with his pistol at an employee in the showroom of Bhagya Lakshmi Jewellers opposite Ambika Shopping Centre and injured him.
The looted bag is worth Rs 12,000, said cops, who suspect that the thieves had mistakenly considered it to be containing cash and jewellery. Police have recovered CCTV footage of the incident and began hunting for the accused.
In the incident, employee Aadarsh Pathak (17), suffered a bullet injury on his right thigh and had to be operated upon to remove the bullet. Cops recovered an empty case of the bullet from the spot.
The robbers who attacked the showroom at around 11.18 am on Sunday, minutes after the showroom had opened. They had reached the spot on a motorcycle. While two persons entered the showroom pretending to customers, one stood on guard outside.
Owner Dikshit Sonar (34) was present inside the showroom when the incident happened. The robbers first asked him to show them anklets. As soon as Sonar took out a few samples, one of the robbers pushed Pathak into a corner while another took out a pistol and started to issue threats. The robber then jumped over the showcase counter and took the bag. In order to prevent Pathak from giving them a chase while fleeing, they shot at him.
Despite his bullet injury, Pathak chased them till outside the showroom but failed to catch them or even get help from neighbours.
The robbers did not cover their faces during the loot which was executed within two minutes only. “Police are examining the CCTV footage to identify the robbers. Cops will also check the route through which the accused have escaped,” said a police officer.
Sonar informed the police that as a precautionary measure, he only keeps imitation jewellery samples in the showroom and arranges for real gold jewellery only as per customer demands. He also told the police that he noticed suspicious movement of unknown people around the showroom on Saturday.