Bettiah trader's staff robbed of Rs 15 lakh, petrol station owner shot at

PATNA: Unidentified armed criminals looted Rs15 lakh from an employee of a grain merchant at Bettiah in West Champaran district while a businessman was shot at and critically injured in a bid to foil a robbery bid at Chhapra in Saran district on Monday. Another petrol outlet owner Shiv Narayan Jha was relieved of Rs60,000 and a two-wheeler by armed criminals in Muzaffarpur.

In the first incident, two youths on a motorbike robbed Rahul Kumar Burnawal (25) of Rs15 lakh when he was on way to deposit the money in a bank at Bettiah. The robbers, who had covered their faces, intercepted Burnawal near Power House Chowk under Town police station area and looted the amount after opening fire.

Burnawal received bullet injuries in his back and was rushed to the government hospital at Bettiah. Later, he was shifted to a private hospital at Motihari.

Bettiah SP Natasha Gudia said another employee Prem Kumar, who was accompanying Burnawal, however, escaped unhurt. “Burnawal’s condition is stated to be stable. He was shot at for resisting the loot attempt,” she said.

The police have obtained CCTV footage from the shops near the site. A special police team has been set up to crack the case, she said.

In another incident, three armed criminals shot at and critically injured the owner of a petrol pump when he was on way to deposit a hefty sum in the State Bank of India branch on Cinema Road under Town police station area at Chhapra. Amit Khanna’s petrol outlet is located on the Dak Bungalow Road at Chhapra.

Police said the robbers fired at the trader when he resisted the loot. The victim somehow managed to throw the bag containing cash inside the bank premises and raised an alarm. The other bank customers chased the robbers and two of them were overpowered with the help of constable Kaushal Kishore who had reached the bank for some personal work. Those arrested were identified as Aditya Kumar of Bettiah and Tej Bahadur Patel of Varanasi. Their accomplice Saurabh Kumar, a resident of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, managed to escape. DIG (Saran range) Vijay Kumar Verma later visited the spot.