Unidentified miscreants on Wednesday targeted finance companies’ employees and looted around Rs 4.3 lakh cash in Rayagada and Puri districts.
The first incident was reported from Rayagada district, in which three unidentified miscreants attacked a finance firm staff near Dhamalia in Kalyansinghpur in the afternoon and decamped with Rs 1.3 lakh.
Sources said the staff was returning to the office after collecting cash when the miscreants intercepted him near Dhamalia. They stabbed him with a knife and snatched away the bag containing cash before speeding away from the spot.
He was rescued in a critical condition and admitted to a nearby hospital.
In a similar incident in Puri district, four to five bike-borne miscreants allegedly looted Rs 3 lakh from the officials of a finance company at gunpoint on the Kakatpur-Bajapur road.
Sources said the looters chased the officials and, after intercepting them, assaulted them brutally before snatching the money at gunpoint.
The company officials lodged a complaint with police in this connection. On the basis of the FIR, cops launched a manhunt to nab the miscreants.