Rs 41.41 lakh looted from ex-minister’s petrol pump staff

PATNA: Six criminals on three motorbikes looted over Rs41.41 lakh from the employees of a petrol pump owned by former minister Veena Shahi near Atal Path under the Patliputra police station area in the state capital on Monday.
The incident took place at around 3.05pm when three employees of Maa Janki petrol pump located at Hajipur in Vaishali district were on their way to R-Block in Patna to deposit the money in the Bank of India branch. The criminals, who had covered their faces with helmets and masks, stopped the car alleging that it had dashed against their motorbikes.
As soon as the driver of the car stopped, the robbers snatched the bag containing the money. Three employees of the fuel outlet, including manager Anunay Kumar, were travelling in the car. The bag was held by one Sanjeet on the back seat. He was assaulted with pistol butts when he resisted the loot.
The manager told the police that they had left the former minister’s residence at New Patliputra Colony for the bank with the cash. The robbers waylaid the car near Atal Path at Indrapuri road number 10 and looted the money at gunpoint. They then drove away towards R-Block roundabout.
City SP (central) Ambarish Rahul along with police officials of the nearby police stations rushed to the site and also quizzed the car driver, Chandan Sharma, a resident of Lalganj in Vaishali, and Sanjeet, a native of Saran district.
Authoritative sources said SSP Upendra Kumar Sharma later visited the residence of Veena Shahi, the daughter-in-law of former Union minister late L P Shahi.
City SP Rahul said the CCTV footage along the Atal Path was being obtained to ascertain the identity of the gang involved in the loot. “We will crack the case very soon,” he told reporters.
The former minister’s son-in-law, Harshendra, told the police that the employees used to carry the money in the same vehicle for a long time. “The staff have been associated with the agency for long,” Anunay, the manager of Maa Janki Transport Service, told the investigating officials.
Earlier, a trader was shot at and robbed of Rs15 lakh under the Malsalami police station area in Patna City late Sunday evening.