Armed criminals looted Rs 32 lakh from two staff of a leading jewelry shop in Bistupur on Monday forenoon.

The incident took place on the premises of Gajraj Mansion along the busy Bistupur Main Road about 400 metres away from the Bistupur police station at around 11 am while the area was bustling with commuters. The two men Pradhyumna Mandal and Vijay Kumar who fell victim to the looters work at Chhaganlal Dayaljee Jewellers, the leading jewelry store of the city, having its showroom at Bistupur.

The duo came out of the jewellery store with cash stuffed in two school bags for getting the money deposited with the Camera Bank located on the first floor of the Gajraj Mansion. As the bank is about 100 metres away from the jewelry store, the staff were walking the distance having put the bags on their shoulders respectively.

As the duo entered into the premises of the Gajraj Mansion, two youths intercepted them and tried to snatch the bags at pistol point. When Vijay resisted the move, one of the criminals hit his head with the pistol butt, causing the victim to fall down. Subsequently, the assailant hit the fallen victim with the butt in the chest repeatedly and finally succeeded to snatch the bags from both of the staff before leaving the scene hurriedly.

Some bystanders who watched the loot informed the police, but by the time a police party reached the spot, the criminals had disappeared.

Senior SP, M Tamil Vanan, city SP, Subhash Chandra Jat and Bistupur OC, Vishnu Raut rushed to the spot and inspected the crime scene. "Criminals have looted Rs 32 lakhs from two staff of a leading jewelry store. We have taken out the CCTV footage of the loot and are hopeful of solving the case soon, " said Jat while talking to The Telegraph Online. The City SP said it being looking into whether it is a got up loot, but they probing the case considering it to be a genuine loot.

Jat said from the investigation it appears that more than two criminals are involved in the crime but he could not say whether the looters used any motorcycle or not. Vijay Kumar who has sustained injuries in the head and the chest has been admitted at the Tata Main Hospital, whereas Pradhyumna is being questioned at the Bistupur thana.

Pradhyumna told the police that the two criminals had gone away towards the adjoining G-town ground after snatching the bags.