AGRA: Barely two hours after a sensational daylight robbery at Manappuram gold loan finance company office in Agra’s Kamla Nagar area, two of the five robbers, who had looted nearly 19 kg gold ornaments worth Rs 9.5 crore after making the staff hostage on Saturday, were shot dead in an encounter with the police. The shootout took place barely 17 kilometres from the crime spot.
According to police, when they tried to nab the assailants, they opened fire at a police team. Two of the five assailants were injured as police returned fire. The injured — Manish Pandey and Nirdosh Kumar – were immediately taken to a community health centre in Khandari, from where they were referred to SN Medical College after their condition deteriorated. They were later declared dead by the medical college doctors. However, three of their associates — Narendra, Anshu and an unidentified one – managed to escape from the spot.
Talking to TOI, ADG (Agra zone) Rajeev Krishna said that gold worth Rs 5 crore has been recovered from the assailants. While two of them were killed, others managed to escape. “They will be arrested soon,” he said, adding that two country-made pistols and cartridges were also recovered from them.
An FIR has been registered against five persons for dacoity on the basis of a complaint filed by the branch manager, said police. A 41-second CCTV footage shows the five assailants coming out after looting the branch and crossing the road on foot. Initial investigations revealed that the gang was from Firozabad, said police.
Police said the incident took place at the first floor of the complex around 2:15 pm, when five assailants carrying bags entered the branch and looted the store after overpowering the staff members. The entire operation by the suspects lasted for 25 minutes. No customer was present inside the office at the time of the incident, said police.
ADG (Agra zone) Rajeev Krishna, IG Naveen Arora, SSP Muniraj G and SP (city) Botre Rohan Pramod reached the spot to assess the situation. All neighbouring district borders were informed and check posts were put in place on National Highway-2 to nab the accused.
Branch manager Vijay Narwaria said that four staff members, including him, were present in the branch when the robbers entered. He said, “No guard was there, as the company doesn’t provide one.”
