Dhenkanal: Two unidentified bike-borne miscreants reportedly looted gold worth Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh cash from a gold merchant after firing at him in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district on Tuesday.
The gold merchant, who has been identified as Prakash Chandra Pal, was reportedly returning to his village in Angul district from Cuttack. In the meantime, the bike-borne miscreants waylaid him near Kadalipal village under Rasol police limits in district and fired at him before fleeing with the cash and valuables. The looters also snatched gold chain from his neck.
Pal, who sustained grievous bullet injury in the abdomen, was rescued by some locals and passersby and was rushed to the Dhenkanal District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in ambulance.
Meanwhile, the Rasol police has started an investigation into the matter. However, they are yet to get any clue of the looters.
In a related incident, a group of six miscreants had allegedly looted a jewellery shop in Puri on February 24. The incident occurred at SR Jewellery in Red Cross Road of the city.
The bike-borne miscreants came near the shop and open-fired before robbing the shop. They took lakhs of cash and jewellery by keeping the shop owner at knife-point. The miscreants also attacked the shop owner with knife, leaving him and his son injured.
On being informed about the crime, a team of cops from the local police station reached the spot and initiated a probe into the matter.
Ms Kalinga