Four armed robbers looted gold jewellery worth Rs 3.39 crore and Rs 1.79 lakh cash from the office of a gold finance company located in the heart of Ankleshwar town of Bharuch district on Monday.
The masked robbers entered the branch office of India Infoline Finance Ltd (IFL) on the first floor of Ashish Shopping Centre at around 9am when the employees had just opened the office. Before they could realize anything, two people armed with pistols and one with a knife directed them to hand over the keys and password of the strong room. The staffers included at least two women also.
They spent a good 30 minutes inside the office and took away 6,680 grams of gold jewellery and cash before fleeing in their car. Footage of the CCTV installed in the shopping complex showed the four robbers escaping in a Swift car.
Footage from the CCTV installed inside the IIFL office showed one of the robbers brandishing a pistol at a staffer. “Another one armed with knife and pushed other employees them inside another room,” said Rajendrasinh Chudasama, superintendent of police, Bharuch
This is the second time this year and third time in the last three years that IIFL branches have been looted.
Dhamendra Padhiar, 33, a staff member, who lodged the complaint told police that they robbers were in the age group of 30-35 years and were speaking Hindi. There were seven staffers inside when the incident happened.
Police suspect the robbers had carried out detailed recce of the spot as they were aware of the role of staff members. A woman employee is seen entering the office after the robbers came inside. They first forced her and another woman into another room at a gunpoint. Immediately afterwards, they call out one of the women and ask her to hand over the keys of the safe deposit vault.
